Roundup: S. Korean shares fall ahead of U.S. job data

South Korean shares fell Friday as local financial institutions dumped stocks ahead of the announcement of U.S. job data that may affect the U.S. Federal Reserve's decision on the first rate hike within this year.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) declined 29.49 points, or 1.54 percent, to 1,886.04 at the close. Trading volume stood at 357.58 million shares worth 4.64 trillion won (3.89 billion U.S. dollars).

The U.S. employment data, scheduled for Friday night, would make the Fed make a decision on when to raise its zero-level policy rate for the first time since the 2008 global financial crisis. The worse-than-expected job data may delay the Fed's rate hike decision.

Market watchers said volatile movement would continue until the mid-September amid uncertainties over the Fed's rate-setting meeting.

Foreign investors kept their selling trend on the back of the expected rate hike in the United States.

Institutional investors dumped shares worth 217 billion won, and foreigners kept a losing streak for 22 sessions in a row by offloading domestic stocks worth 27 billion won. It marked the third-longest foreign sales since related data began to be compiled in 2003.

Retail investors alone bought 202 billion won worth of stocks, but those purchases failed to drive up the market.

Most large-cap shares lost ground. Top automaker Hyundai Motor retreated 1.3 percent, and the state-run power supplier Korea Electric Power Corp. shrank 1.5 percent. Memory chip giant SK Hynix slumped 1.1 percent, and the Number 2 carmaker Kia Motors lost 0.6 percent.

The biggest wireless carrier SK Telecom fell 0.8 percent, and leading cosmetics maker Amore Pacific dropped 3.9 percent. But, market bellwether Samsung Electronics added 0.5 percent, and its IT unit Samsung SDS climbed 3 percent.

The South Korean currency finished at 1,193.40 won against the greenback, down 3.1 won from Thursday's close. Endi