The South Korean stock market opened sharply lower on Monday due to growing global concerns over further spread of the novel coronavirus. 

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index(KOSPI) was at one-thousand-981-point-02 points when it opened at 9:30 a.m., lower by 59-point-two points, or two-point-nine percent, from Friday’s closing. 

The tech-heavy KOSDAQ started off 11-point-59 points, or one-point-eight percent, lower at 631-point-13 points. 

The local market drop came after the U.S. Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 256-point-five points, or zero-point-98 percent, to close at 25-thousand-864-point-78 points last Friday, also driven by COVID-19 concerns.