** There were possibilities that the Fed rate hike could negatively affect the market, but investors seem to be paying more attention to when the rate hike cycle will end, says Kim Sung-hwan, an analyst at Bookook Securities. The market seems to be tolerant to the U.S.-China trade spat, as some view it as a noise event ahead of the U.S. midterm election in November, Kim added. ** At 06:30 GMT, the KOSPI closed up 16.26 points or 0.70 percent at 2,355.43, extending gains to a third consecutive session.

** South Korean policymakers said risk of major foreign capital flow is not big, expecting limited impact from the widely-expected U.S. rate hike. ** The won was quoted at 1,112.5 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.25 percent firmer than its previous close at 1,115.3. ** In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,112.97 per U.S. dollar, up 0.22 percent from the previous day, while in one-year non-deliverable forwards it was being transacted at 1,096 per dollar. ** MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.10 percent, after U.S. stocks ended the previous session with mild losses [MKTS/GLOB]. Japanese stocks weakened 0.99 percent. ** The KOSPI is down around 5.2 percent so far this year, and up by 1.54 percent in the previous 30 days. ** The current price-to-earnings ratio is 12.10, the dividend yield is 1.28 percent and the market capitalisation is 1,242.04 trillion won. ** The trading volume during the session on the KOSPI index was 273,887,000 shares and, of the total 898 traded issues, the number of advancing shares was 522. ** Foreigners were net buyers of 229,572 million won worth of shares. ** The U.S dollar has risen 4.37 percent against the won this year. The won's high for the year is 1,053.55 per dollar on April 2 and the low is 1,140.4 on July 19. ** In money and debt markets, December futures on three-year treasury bonds rose 0.02 points to 108.32. ** The Korean 3-month Certificate of Deposit benchmark rate was quoted at 1.65 percent, while the benchmark 3-year Korean treasury bond yielded 2.01 percent, lower than the previous day's 2.03 percent.

(Reporting by Joori Roh; Editing by Sunil Nair)