S.Korean bonds rise on won's gain, BOK eyed

SEOUL, Jan 7 (Reuters) - South Korean government bond prices rose early on Wednesday, encouraged by the won's jump to a one-week high against the dollar on increased risk appetite amid hopes for worldwide economic stimulus measures.

Expectations that the Bank of Korea would cut the rates again on Friday, possibly by as much as 50 basis points to 2.50 percent, also underpinned the debt market [ID:nSEO2182].

The yield on benchmark 5-year treasury bonds KR5YT=KSDA fell 2 basis points to 3.73 percent while March treasury bond futures KTBc1 rose 14 ticks to 112.95 as of 0033 GMT.

A Reuters poll showed that 8 of 10 analysts surveyed expected the central bank to cut the base rate by a half percentage point on Friday in a bid to head off the country's first recession in a decade. The remaining 2 economists projected a 25-basis-point cut. [ID:nSEO2182] (Reporting by Seo Eun-kyung; Editing by Keiron Henderson)