South Korean stocks opened sharply lower Monday, as investors here are concerned about a sharp dip on Wall Street last week that stemmed from weaker-than-expected earnings reports from market heavyweights and persistent woes over the Fed's aggressive tightening.

The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) fell 21.35 points, or 0.79 percent, to trade at 2,673.7 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

On Friday, the tech-heavy Nasdaq tumbled 4.17 percent on investors' fears about the tightening US monetary policies and the virus lockdown in China. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 dipped 2.77 percent and 3.63 percent, respectively.

Tech and financial losses led the Kospi's retreat, while chemical performed better.

Market behemoth Samsung Electronics lost 1.04 percent, and top battery maker LG Energy Solution retreated 1.44 percent. Chip giant SK hynix declined 2.22 percent.

Internet portal operator Naver shed 2.09 percent, and pharmaceutical giant Samsung Biologics decreased 0.84 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,263.45 won against the US dollar as of 9:15 a.m., down 7.55 won from Thursday's close. (Yonhap)