S.Korea shares fall for fourth day, Wall Street volatility weighs

    * KOSPI falls, foreigners net sellers
    * Korean won strengthens against U.S. dollar
    * South Korea benchmark bond yield rises

    SEOUL, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean financial
markets:
 
** South Korean shares fell for a fourth straight session on
Friday, as Wall Street volatility from GameStop         losses
and concerns about a cash squeeze in China weighed on sentiment.
The won strengthened, while the benchmark bond yield rose.
 
** By 02:29 GMT, the benchmark KOSPI         fell 25.10 points,
or 0.82%, to 3,043.95.
    
** Asian retail investors, emboldened by the meteoric rise of
U.S. videogame retailer GameStop, are taking on short sellers
and making their brokers nervous enough to cut off margin
lending.             

** Short-term borrowing costs in China jumped to their
pre-COVID-19 levels on Tuesday, pressured by the central bank's
extended net cash drainage and higher holiday demand.
                      
    
** Dramas related to Gamestop is an overriding issue among
investors this week, adding to volatility-related concerns, said
Na Jeong-hwan, an analyst at DS Investment & Securities.

** Shares of Samsung Biologics             dropped 3%, Hyundai
Motor             fell 2.7%          
 
** Foreigners were net sellers of 337.3 billion won ($302.26
million) worth of shares on the main board. 
 
** The won was quoted at 1,115.9 per dollar on the onshore
settlement platform           , 0.33% higher than its previous
close at 1,119.6.
 
** In offshore trading, the won        was quoted at 1,116.0 per
dollar, down 0.3% from the previous day, while in
non-deliverable forward trading its one-month contract
              was quoted at 1,115.5.
    
** The trading volume during the session in the KOSPI index
        was 397.17 million shares. Of the total traded issues of
910, the number of advancing shares was 168.
 
** The won has lost 2.7% against the dollar so far this year.
 
** The most liquid 3-year Korean treasury bond yield fell by 0.6
basis points to 0.971%, while the benchmark 10-year yield rose
by 0.4 basis points to 1.768%.


($1 = 1,115.9300 won)

 (Reporting by Cynthia Kim; Editing by Rashmi Aich)