* KOSPI rises, foreigners net buyers

* Korean won weakens against U.S. dollar

* South Korea benchmark bond yield falls

* For the midday report, please click

SEOUL, Jan 7 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean financial markets:

** South Korean shares on Friday logged the sharpest daily gain in more than a month, while ending the week lower, with investor focus on U.S jobs data later in the day that might reinforce the need for faster-than-expected U.S. interest rate hikes. ** Foreign investors snapped up Samsung Electronics and other tech heavyweights to log the ninth straight week of buying. The Korean won weakened to the lowest in a year and a half, while the benchmark bond yield fell. ** The benchmark KOSPI rose 34.36 points, or 1.18%, to 2,954.89 as of 06:30. ** Among the heavyweights, technology giant Samsung Electronics rose 1.82% and peer SK Hynix rose 1.60%, while LG Chem rose 4.20% and Naver fell 0.15%. ** Foreigners were net buyers of 634.9 billion won worth of shares on the main board. ** The won was quoted at 1,201.5 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.04% lower than its previous close at 1,201.0. ** In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,202.3 per dollar, up 0.2% from the previous day, while in non-deliverable forward trading its one-month contract was quoted at 1,202.9. ** The KOSPI has fallen 0.76% so far this year, but lost 2.5% in the previous 30 trading sessions. ** The trading volume during the session in the KOSPI index was 535.01 million shares. Of the total traded issues of 931, the number of advancing shares was 648. ** The won has lost 1.1% against the dollar so far this year. ** In money and debt markets, March futures on three-year treasury bonds rose 0.07 point to 108.25. ** The most liquid 3-year Korean treasury bond yield rose by 0.4 basis point to 2.014%, while the benchmark 10-year yield fell by 2.9 basis points to 2.452%. (Reporting by Cynthia Kim; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)