Amid growing fears over the rapid spread of COVID-19 in South Korea, the nation’s stocks nosedived by nearly four percent. 

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index(KOSPI) finished at two-thousand-79-point-04, down by 83-point-80 points, or three-point-87 percent, from Friday’s close. 

While foreigners dumped 782-point-three billion won worth of local shares, individual investors net bought 607-point-seven billion won in shares, and institutional investors snapped up 282-point-two billion won worth. 

The tech-heavy KOSDAQ ended the day down by 28-point-70 points, or four-point-three percent, at 639-point-29 points. 

The number of people diagnosed with the novel coronavirus in the country jumped by more than 550 since Friday afternoon to over 760 as of Monday morning, with seven related deaths confirmed so far.