* KOSPI rises, foreigners net buyers

* Korean won strengthens against U.S. dollar

* South Korea benchmark bond yield rises

SEOUL, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean financial markets:

** South Korean shares rose on Monday, helped by optimism over some progress in U.S. stimulus talks and a drop in local coronavirus cases. The won strengthened, and the benchmark bond yield rose. ** By 02:51 GMT, the benchmark KOSPI climbed 17.95 points, or 0.77%, to 2,359.48.

** U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she was optimistic legislation on a coronavirus relief package could be pushed through before Election Day.

** South Korea reported 76 new coronavirus cases as of Sunday midnight, extending declines after logging triple-digit increases last week.

** Shares of SK Hynix jumped 2.81%, and POSCO rose 3.71%

** Foreigners were net buyers of 65.8 billion won worth of shares on the main board. ** The won was quoted at 1,142.5 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.43% higher than its previous close at 1,147.4. ** In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,142.3 per dollar, unchanged from the previous day, while in non-deliverable forward trading its one-month contract was quoted at 1,142.1. ** MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.22%. ** The KOSPI has risen 7.36% so far this year, and gained 0.7% in the previous 30 trading sessions. ** The trading volume during the session in the KOSPI index was 484.54 million shares. Of the total traded issues of 905, the number of advancing shares was 541. ** The won has gained 1.2% against the dollar so far this year. ** In money and debt markets, December futures on three-year treasury bonds fell 0.06 point to 111.87. ** The most liquid 3-year Korean treasury bond yield rose by 2.8 basis points to 0.911%, while the benchmark 10-year yield rose by 1.4 basis points to 1.503%. (Reporting by Cynthia Kim; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)