Round-up of South Korean financial markets: ** South Korean shares rose for a seventh straight session on Thursday as test data showing the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine offered some protection against the Omicron coronavirus variant fuelled risk appetite. ** The won strengthened to a one-month high, while the benchmark bond yield also rose. ** By 0143 GMT, the benchmark KOSPI (.KS11) rose 19.91 points, or 0.62%, to 3,021.71. ** Chip giants Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) and SK Hynix (000660.KS) rose 0.26% and 1.67%, respectively, while battery maker LG Chem (051910.KS) and platform company Naver (035420.KS) added 0.40% and 0.76%, respectively. ** Pfizer (PFE.N) and BioNTech said on Wednesday their three-shot course of the COVID-19 vaccine was able to neutralise the Omicron variant in a laboratory test and they could deliver an upgraded vaccine in March 2022 if needed. read more ** At home, South Korea reported 7,102 new virus cases for Wednesday following a record 7,175 cases a day earlier. Some 22 new Omicron cases were found, bringing up the tally to 60 so far. read more ** On the main board, foreigners were net buyers of 16.7 billion won ($14.23 million) worth of shares. ** The won was quoted at 1,174.2 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform , the highest level since Nov. 1 and 0.14% higher than the previous close. ** In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,173.5 per dollar, up 0.1% from the previous day, while in non-deliverable forward trading its one-month contract was quoted at 1,173.6. ** In money and debt markets, December futures on three-year treasury bonds fell 0.08 point to 109.01. ** The most liquid 3-year Korean treasury bond yield rose by 0.9 basis point to 1.842%, while the benchmark 10-year yield rose by 4.2 basis points to 2.228%. ($1 = 1,173.5700 won) Reporting by Joori Roh; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.