** South Korean shares slipped on Tuesday after U.S. President Donald Trump abruptly imposed tariffs against select imports from Brazil and Argentina, stoking fears that a trade war could be spreading. The Korean won weakened, while the benchmark bond yield rose.

** Trump on Monday announced tariffs on U.S. steel and aluminium imports from the two countries. The sentiment was also hit by weak U.S. manufacturing data.

** The KOSPI, however, erased some of its losses as investors saw the losses as excessive, said Han Ji-young, an analyst at Cape Investment & Securities.

** The Seoul stock market's main KOSPI ended down 7.85 points, or 0.38%, at 2,084.07. The index fell as much as 1.2% in early trade.

** Foreigners were net sellers for a 19th straight session, by selling 271.1 billion won ($229.88 million) worth of shares on the main board on Tuesday.

** The won was quoted at 1,187.2 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform , 0.35% lower than its previous close at 1,183.1.

** In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,187.5 per U.S. dollar, down 0.2% from the previous day, while in non-deliverable forward trading its one-month contract was quoted at 1,185.9 per dollar.

** MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan <.MIAPJ0000PUS> was down 0.44%, after U.S. stocks lost around 1% overnight [MKTS/GLOB]. Japanese stocks <.N225> fell 0.64%.

** The KOSPI has risen 2.11% so far this year, and gained 1.3% in the previous 30 trading sessions.

** The trading volume during the session in the KOSPI index was 436.16 million shares and, of the total traded issues of 906, the number of advancing shares was 307.

** The won has lost 6.0% against the dollar so far this year.

** In money and debt markets, December futures on three-year treasury bonds fell 0.08 points to 110.24, while the 3-month Certificate of Deposit rate was quoted at 1.53% in late afternoon trade.

** The most liquid 3-year Korean treasury bond yield rose by 4.0 basis points to 1.462% in late afternoon trade, while the benchmark 10-year yield rose by 5.5 basis points to 1.737%.

(Reporting by Hayoung Choi; Editing by Rashmi Aich)