 south korean shares dropped to their lowest in more than a week on thursday as investors worries about a fullscale russian invasion of ukraine and the economic impact of surging covid19 cases at home  the korean won weakened while the benchmark bond yield rose  by 0150 gmt the benchmark kospi ks11 shed 4098 points or 151 to 267855 after having fallen as much as 182 earlier in the session to the lowest since feb 15  leading the decline chip giants samsung electronics 005930ks and sk hynix 000660ks fell 137 and 311 respectively while battery maker lg energy solution 373220ks dropped 430  risk appetite took a hit after us secretary of state antony blinken told nbc news that he expected russia to invade ukraine before the night was over though he still sees a chance to avert a major aggression read more  the statement comes after the united states imposed sanctions on the company in charge of building russias nord stream 2 gas pipeline on wednesday expanding penalties on moscow read more  meanwhile the bank of korea kept interest rates steady on thursday taking a breather after backtoback hikes as surging coronavirus cases and escalating tensions in ukraine cloud the economic outlook read more  the country reported 170016 new covid19 cases for wednesday near the peak of 171452 infections reported a day earlier read more  on the ukraine front ahead the united nations security council and the group of seven world leaders will separately hold meetings to discuss the crisis diplomats and the white house said  foreigners were net sellers of 2900 billion won 24227 million worth of shares on the main board  the won was quoted at 11973 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform  down 031  in offshore trading the won was quoted at 11970 while in nondeliverable forward trading its onemonth contract was quoted at 11972  in money and debt markets march futures on threeyear treasury bonds fell 016 point to 10757  the most liquid 3year korean treasury bond yield rose by 5 basis points to 2370