* KOSPI falls, foreigners net sellers
* Korean won weakens against dollar
* South Korea benchmark bond yield rises
SEOUL, July 25 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean financial markets:
** South Korean shares dropped 2% on Thursday and were on course for their biggest daily fall since mid-April, after Wall Street closed sharply lower overnight on lacklustre Alphabet and Tesla earnings. The won weakened, while the benchmark bond yield rose.
** The benchmark KOSPI fell 54.03 points, or 1.96%, to 2,704.68 by 0200 GMT.
** Among index heavyweights, chipmaker Samsung Electronics fell 2.07% and peer SK Hynix lost 8.30%, while battery maker LG Energy Solution was flat.
** SK Hynix posted its highest quarterly profit since 2018 as the Nvidia supplier said second-half AI chip demand would rise further, such as for high bandwidth memory used in generative AI chipsets. ** South Korea's economy unexpectedly shrank in the second quarter, clocking the sharpest contraction since 2022 as slumping consumer spending undermined an export boom, reinforcing expectations that an interest rate cut could be imminent.
** Hyundai Motor shed 3.48% and sister automaker Kia Corp lost 2.70%, while search engine Naver and instant messenger Kakao were up 2.04% and up 1.39%, respectively.
** Of the total 930 traded issues, 97 shares advanced, while 809 declined.
** Foreigners were net sellers of shares worth 444.7 billion won on the main board on Thursday.
** The won was quoted at 1,385.9 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.43% lower than its previous close at 1,379.9.
** The KOSPI has risen 1.86% so far this year, and gained 1.1% in the previous 30 trading sessions.
** The won has lost 7.1% against the dollar so far this year.
** In money and debt markets, September futures on three-year treasury bonds rose 0.06 point to 105.65.
** The most liquid three-year Korean treasury bond yield fell by 2.6 basis points to 3.024%, while the benchmark 10-year yield rose by 0.1 basis point to 3.131%. (Reporting by Cynthia Kim; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)
