S. Korean stocks fall Thursday following Wall Street turmoil amid COVID-19 pandemic

'코로나19 팬데믹' 선언에 코스피 1900선 붕괴...월가 약세장 진입

Following the Wall Street turmoil on Wednesday amid the COVID-19 pandemic fears,... South Korean stocks also plunged on Thursday morning.
For more, we have our Yoon Jung-min on the line.
Jung-min, walk us through the carnage we are currently witnessing on the local markets.
Right Mark, As of 11:30AM,...both the benchmark KOSPI and the tech-heavy KOSDAQ have fallen by more than 4 percent each.
In fact, the KOSPI collapsed way below the 1900-mark.
It's down almost 4 percent to around 18-32.
The KOSDAQ tumbled around 4-point-5 percent to 568.
This follows the decision by the W-H-O to characterize COVID-19 as a pandemic on Wednesday.
Although the W-H-O has said the outbreak can be controlled,... it definitely did not help settle investors.
We will have to keep an eye on that until the markets close today.
Now, turning to the Wall Street,... the Dow entered bear territory market for the first time in more than a decade.
Give us the details and the numbers.
The COVID-19 pandemic hit Wall Street hard on Wednesday,... as markets there tumbled again.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged over 5 percent to 23-thousand-553,... entering bear market territory,... for the first time since the 2009 global financial crisis.
Now, it's more than 20 percent below the record close set last month.
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq shed nearly five percent each.
Markets in Europe weren't affected by the WHO's announcement,... as it came after markets closed.
But Europe also closed lower as investors monitored the spread of the coronavirus.
That's all from me at this hour. Mark.

#SouthKorea #COVID #stocks