Round-up of South Korean financial markets: ** South Korean shares fell more than 1% early on Monday and the won hit a three-week low, with investors worldwide offloading riskier assets as the Omicron COVID-19 variant threatened the global economic outlook. ** By 0231 GMT, the benchmark KOSPI (.KS11) fell 39.95 points, or 1.32%, to 2,977.78. ** Among the heavyweights, technology giant Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) fell 0.77% and peer SK Hynix (000660.KS) rose 0.41%, while LG Chem (051910.KS) fell 3.73% and Naver (035420.KS) fell 2.60%. ** Several European countries are mulling tighter COVID-19 restrictions ahead of the Christmas and New Year holidays as the Omicron variant spreads rapidly, although the United States seemed set to remain open. read more ** Foreigners were net sellers of 247.8 billion won ($208.35 million) worth of shares on the main board. ** The won was quoted at 1,189.3 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform , 0.71% lower than its previous close at 1,180.9. ** In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,189.1 per dollar, down 0.1% from the previous day, while in non-deliverable forward trading its one-month contract was quoted at 1,189.0. ** In money and debt markets, December futures on three-year treasury bonds rose 0.06 points to 109.38 ** The most liquid 3-year Korean treasury bond yield fell by 0.6 basis points to 1.767%, while the benchmark 10-year yield fell by 2.4 basis points to 2.129%. ($1 = 1,189.3400 won) Reporting by Choonsik Yoo; Editing by Devika Syamnath Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.