South Korean shares fell for a third straight day on Thursday, led by exporters such as LG Electronics Inc as a steep rise in the won against the dollar threatened profit margins, traders said.
A fall on Wall Street the previous day after the Fed hinted it might be closer to a rate increase also encouraged foreign investors to book profits in a market that rose more than five percent this month to 20 month highs, they said.
Foreign investors turned net sellers for the first time in 18 trading days, dumping 189.9 billion won of stocks.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) finished down 0.71 percent at 853.47 points, after it trimmed early losses.
Shares in LG Electronics, the world's biggest maker of air conditioners, fell 5.45 percent to 62,500 won, and the country's top auto maker, Hyundai Motor, dropped 3.94 percent to 51,200 won.
Samsung Electronics Co Ltd fell 0.93 percent to 533,000 won.
Gains at Hynix Semiconductor Inc, the world's third-biggest memory chip maker, and fisheries shares helped trim losses in the broader market. Hynix ended up 2.75 percent at 8,960 won as investors bet on a better outlook in 2004.
Traded volume stood at 360.4 million shares, compared with 432.9 million on Wednesday. Turnover totalled 2.50 trillion won, down from 3.16 trillion won. Losers topped gainers 402 to 334 with 84 stocks unchanged.
The March KOSPI 200 futures index fell 0.80 points to 112.00 and the underlying KOSPI 200 spot index was down 0.83 percent at 111.66.
The junior Kosdaq ended up 0.16 percent at 442.15 points.
Institutional investors bought a net 68.4 billion won and retail investors bought a net 117.7 billion won worth of shares.
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