* 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, July 22 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean financial markets:

** South Korean shares closed over 1% higher on Thursday, marking their best day in two months, as optimism over earnings outweighed news that the country reported a record jump in new COVID-19 cases. The won and the benchmark bond yield rose.

** The benchmark KOSPI ended up 34.30 points, or 1.07%, to 3,250.21.

** Among heavyweights, technology giant Samsung Electronics rose 1.53% and peer SK Hynix added 2.14%, while LG Chem rose 1.98% and Naver gained 2.80%.

** Expectations of upbeat earnings both in the United States and South Korea are supporting investor sentiment, while fears about the Delta variant aren't as prevalent as before, said Seo Sang-young, an analyst at Mirae Asset Securities.

** South Korean steelmaker POSCO on Thursday posted a net profit of 1.8 trillion won ($2,072.95 trillion) for the second quarter, beating forecasts.

** The Asian nation on Thursday reported a daily record of 1,842 infections.

** Foreigners were net buyers of 61.4 billion won ($53.44 million) worth of shares on the main board.

** The won was quoted at 1,149.9 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, up 0.36%.

** In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,148.9 per dollar, while in non-deliverable forward trading, its one-month contract was quoted at 1,149.0.

** The won has lost 5.5% against the dollar so far this year.

** In money and debt markets, September futures on three-year treasury bonds fell 0.07 point to 110.23.

** The most liquid 3-year Korean treasury bond yield rose by 2.1 basis points to 1.404%, while the benchmark 10-year yield rose by 4.8 basis points to 1.925%. ($1 = 1,148.9300 won) (Reporting by Cynthia Kim, additional reporting by Jihoon Lee; editing by Uttaresh.V)