* KOSPI rises, foreigners net buyers

* Korean won strengthens against dollar

* South Korea benchmark bond yield falls

*

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

** South Korean shares rose on the last trading day of this year on Thursday and were set to log annual gains of more than 17% on speculation the Federal Reserve will pivot and start cutting interest rates soon. The won strengthened, while the benchmark bond yield fell.

** The benchmark KOSPI rose 18.17 points, or 0.70%, to 2,631.67 by 01:56 GMT. The KOSPI has risen 17.67% so far this year.

** Among index heavyweights, chipmaker Samsung Electronics was flat and peer SK Hynix lost 0.36%, while battery maker LG Energy Solution climbed 0.48%.

** South Korea's financial markets are closed on Dec 29., and trading will resume on Jan. 2 at 10 a.m. KST (0100 GMT), an hour later than usual.

** Hyundai Motor added 1.76% and sister automaker Kia Corp gained 2.99%, while search engine Naver and instant messenger Kakao were up 0.22% and up 0.56%, respectively.

** Of the total 937 traded issues, 553 shares advanced, while 306 declined.

** Foreigners were net buyers of shares worth 67.4 billion won on the main board on Thursday.

** The won was quoted at 1,290.7 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.27% higher than its previous close at 1,294.2.

** In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,288.3 per dollar, up 0.3% on the day, while in non-deliverable forward trading its one-month contract was quoted at 1,285.7.

** The won has lost 2.0% against the dollar so far this year.

** In money and debt markets, March futures on three-year treasury bonds rose 0.13 points to 105.34.

** The most liquid three-year Korean treasury bond yield fell by 5.3 basis points to 3.169%, while the benchmark 10-year yield fell by 5.8 basis points to 3.205%. (Reporting by Cynthia Kim; Editing by Janane Venkatraman )