South Korean shares fall 1% as China COVID worries deepen

*

KOSPI falls, foreigners net sellers

*

Korean won weakens more than 1% against dollar

*

South Korea benchmark bond yield inches down

SEOUL, Nov 28 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean financial markets:

** South Korean shares started the week sharply lower on Monday, led by heavyweight chipmakers, as risk-averse sentiment persisted on worries over China's COVID-19 outbreaks. The Korean won dropped, while the benchmark bond yield inched down.

** The benchmark KOSPI fell 24.26 points, or 1.00%, to 2,413.60 as of 0116 GMT.

** "Risk appetites were subdued by uncertainties over China's strengthening 'zero-COVID' policy stance," said Choi Yoo-june, an analyst at Shinhan Securities.

** China has been widening lockdown measures across major cities to fight record COVID-19 outbreaks, moves that have been met with public anger.

** Meanwhile, South Korea's central bank and government on Monday rolled out additional rescue measures for the local credit market.

** Among heavyweights, technology giant Samsung Electronics fell 1.80% and peer SK Hynix lost 2.47%, tracking a more than 1% loss of the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index in the previous session.

** Major platform stocks of Naver and Kakao were also down more than 2%.

** Battery makers were among the gaining minority. LG Energy Solution rose 1.23%, with its parent LG Chem up 0.55%, while peers Samsung SDI and SK Innovation gained 0.14% and 0.85% each.

** Of the total 925 traded issues, 149 shares rose.

** Foreigners were net sellers of shares worth 176.2 billion won ($131.67 million) on the main board.

** The won was quoted 0.88% lower at 1,335.5 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, after falling as much as 1.20%.

** In money and debt markets, December futures on three-year treasury bonds inched up by 0.01 point to 103.83.

** The most liquid three-year Korean treasury bond yield fell by 1.1 basis points to 3.636%, while the benchmark 10-year yield fell by 0.7 basis points to 3.616%. ($1 = 1,338.2100 won) (Reporting by Jihoon Lee; editing by Uttaresh.V)