Seoul shares expected to rise; volume drop weighs

SEOUL Nov 6 (Reuters) - Seoul shares may turn higher on Friday, taking a positive cue from the broad-based advance in U.S. markets overnight on positive economic data, but dwindling trade volume will likely temper any rebound.

U.S. business productivity grew at its fastest clip in six years in the third quarter and new claims for jobless aid fell to a 10-month low last week, suggesting the labour market may be starting to bottom out. [ID:nN05106320]

"There are neither positive nor negative leads, in the absence of market-leading stocks," said Lee Dong-jun, a market analyst at Samsung Securities.

"We can expect a rebound in heavily underperforming stocks, in response to the U.S. market rally."

The Korea Composite Stock Price Index .KS11 shed 1.75 percent to 1,552.24 points on Thursday.

Volume fell to the smallest since late August, 2008, with about 201 million shares changing hands.

----------------------MARKET SNAPSHOT @ 2304 GMT ------------

INSTRUMENT LAST PCT CHG NET CHG

S&P 500 .SPX 1066.63 1.92% 20.130

USD/JPY JPY= 90.74 0.06% 0.050

10-YR US TSY YLD US10YT=RR 3.5274 -- 0.000

SPOT GOLD XAU= 1089.85 0.03% 0.300

US CRUDE CLc1 79.75 0.16% 0.130

DOW JONES .DJI 10005.96 2.08% 203.82

ASIA ADRS .BKAS 122.66 1.35% 1.63 -------------------------------------------------------------

MARKET SUMMARY

*Wall Street ekes out gain on banks, materials [nN09469818]

*Oil rises, snaps six-day slide on gasoline buying [nSP476597]

*Dollar up modestly ahead of US jobs data [nN05137603]

*Steady rate outlook supports short Treasuries [nN05572928]

STOCKS TO WATCH

SK TELECOM (017670.KS)

The country's top mobile phone operator told the Korea Exchange in a filing that it had sold its stake in China Unicom (0762.HK) for 1.5 trillion won on Thursday.

The disclosure came after it announced the sale plan in late September. [ID:nN2715845]

SSANGYONG MOTOR (003620.KS)

A court is set to make a decision over the troubled carmaker's proposed self-rescue plan later in the day.

(Reporting by Kim Yeon-hee; Editing by Jonathan Hopfner)