Auto shares pull S.Korea's KOSPI lower as Hyundai Motor, Kia denies Apple project

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

    SEOUL, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean financial
markets:
    
    ** South Korean shares slid on Monday, pulled down by auto
stocks as Hyundai Motor group's denial on Apple project
disappointed investors. Both the won and the benchmark bond
yield rose.
    
    ** The KOSPI         fell 8.91 points, or 0.29%, to 3,111.72
as of 0207 GMT, trimming early losses of as much as 1.12%.
    
    ** South Korea's Hyundai Motor Co             and Kia Corp
            shares tumbled as much as 8.42% and 15.27%,
respectively, after they said they are not in talks with Apple
Inc          on developing autonomous vehicles.             
    
    ** The sub-index for transportation equipment        
dropped 6.81%, while the group's other affiliates Hyundai Mobis
           , Hyundai Glovis             and Hyundai Wia
            were down 8.37%, 8.14% and 9.97%, respectively.
    
    ** Other heavyweights were trading mixed: Samsung
Electronics             edged up 0.24%, while Samsung BioLogics
            added 0.12%. Chipmaker SK Hynix             and
batterymaker LG Chem             were down 0.78% and 2.92% each.
    
    ** Investors also awaited the MSCI quarterly index review
data scheduled to be released on 2200 GMT on Tuesday.
    
    ** "The (KOSPI) trading volumes will likely stay subdued
ahead of the nation's Lunar New Year holiday this week, but
short-term volatility may rise due to the expiry of (KOSPI)
options on Wednesday," said Choi Yoo-june, analyst at Shinhan
Financial Corp.
    
    ** Foreigners were net sellers of 229.1 billion won ($204.85
million) worth of shares on the main board. 
    
    ** The won was quoted at 1,117.7 per dollar on the onshore
settlement platform           , 0.54% higher than its previous
close.
    
    ** In offshore trading, the won        was quoted at 1,118.1
per dollar, while in non-deliverable forward trading its
one-month contract               was quoted at 1,117.7.
    
    ** In money and debt markets, March futures on three-year
treasury bonds         fell 0.04 points to 111.59.
    
    ** The most liquid 3-year Korean treasury bond yield rose by
1.0 basis points to 0.993%.

($1 = 1,118.3800 won)

 (Reporting by Joori Roh; Additional reporting by Jihoon Lee;
Editing by Rashmi Aich)