S.Korean stocks end higher ahead of U.S. inflation data

* KOSPI rises, foreigners net buyers

* Korean won strengthens against U.S. dollar

* South Korea benchmark bond yield rises

* For the midday report, please click

SEOUL, Sept 14 (Reuters) – Round-up of South Korean financial markets:

** South Korean shares ended higher on Tuesday, buoyed by foreign buying after overnight gains on Wall Street, while investors awaited U.S. August inflation data due later in the day. The won strengthened and the benchmark bond yield rose.

** The benchmark KOSPI closed up 20.97 points, or 0.67%, at 3,148.83, extending the gains to a third straight day.

** Among the heavyweights, chip giants Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix rose 0.39% and 0.94%, respectively, while platform companies Naver and Kakao fell 1.35% and 0.40%, respectively.

** Foreigners were net buyers of 294.0 billion won ($251.14 million) worth of shares on the main board.

** Meanwhile, market participants awaitied U.S. consumer price data for a broad picture of the country’s economic recovery and possible policy clues ahead of the Federal Reserve’s meeting next week.

** The won ended at 1,170.8 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.44% higher than its previous close at 1,176.0.

** In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,170.3 per dollar, up 0.2% from the previous day, while in non-deliverable forward trading its one-month contract was quoted at 1,170.6.

** In money and debt markets, September futures on three-year treasury bonds fell 0.02 points to 110.10.

** The most liquid 3-year Korean treasury bond yield rose by 1.8 basis points to 1.541%, while the benchmark 10-year yield rose by 2.7 basis points to 2.062%.

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