South Korean shares erase early gains as traders eye Trump's first day

• KOSPI falls, foreigners net sellers
• Korean won strengthens against dollar
• South Korea benchmark bond yield rises

SEOUL, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean financial markets:

South Korean shares erased early gains to end lower on Monday, as traders took a cautious approach ahead of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration.

The benchmark KOSPI .KS11 closed down 3.50 points, or 0.14%, at 2,520.05.

The KOSPI rose as much as 0.5% in early trade, tracking Wall Street's gains on Friday, but erased the gains near the session close.

Trump, who will be sworn in as president of the United States later on Monday, has pledged to sign a flurry of executive orders on subjects ranging from border security to oil and gas production on his first day in office.

"Of course, tariff and immigration policies will be most important. Still, his tariff policies are expected to be less than a disaster, leaving room for negotiations and being gradual," said Huh Jae-hwan, an analyst at Eugene Investment Securities.

South Korea pledged a record amount of financing support for exporters to mitigate any negative impact from changes in U.S. trade policies.

Among index heavyweights, chipmakers and automakers fell, but battery makers tracked Tesla TSLA.O's 3.1% jump on Friday.

Of the total 944 traded issues, 389 shares advanced, while 491 declined.

Foreigners were net sellers of shares worth 414.6 billion won ($285.69 million).

The won was quoted at 1,451.7 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform KRW=KFTC, 0.47% higher than its previous close at 1,458.5.

In money and debt markets, March futures on three-year treasury bonds KTBc1 fell 0.04 point to 106.81.

The most liquid three-year Korean treasury bond yield KR3YT=RR rose by 1.7 basis points to 2.604%, while the benchmark 10-year yield KR10YT=RR rose by 7.0 basis points to 2.864%.

($1 = 1,451.2300 won)

(Reporting by Jihoon Lee; Editing by Rashmi Aich)