Stocks in Asia Pacific saw sharp drops on Monday as fears over the economic impact of the global coronavirus outbreak continue to weigh heavily on investor sentiment.

In India, the Nifty 50 dropped 12.98% to close at 7,610.25 while the BSE Sensex ended its trading day 13.15% lower at 25,981.24. The two indexes had earlier halted trading temporarily after the Sensex fell 10%, triggering a circuit breaker.

Meanwhile, the Straits Times Index in Singapore plunged 7.35% to close at 2,233.48.

Over in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 5.62% to close at 4,546.00 as the sectors largely declined.

South Korea stocks also saw substantial declines, with the Kospi falling 5.34% to end its trading day at 1,482.46. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index dropped 4.86% to close at 21,696.13.

Mainland Chinese stocks were also lower on the day, with the Shanghai composite down 3.11% to around 2,660.17 while the Shenzhen composite shed 4.259% to approximately 1,631.88. The Shenzhen component also dropped 4.52% to 9,691.53.

The Nikkei 225 in Japan bucked the overall trend regionally as it jumped 2.02% to close at 16,887.78, while the Topix index edged 0.68% higher to end its trading day at 1,292.01.

Overall, the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index fell 5.73%.