South Korean stocks opened lower Monday as investors sat on the sidelines amid weak growth momentum on the main bourse, analysts said.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) moved down 14.91 points, or 0.73 percent, to 2,024.51 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

Shares lost ground across the board, with market behemoth Samsung Electronics falling 0.2 percent and leading steelmaker POSCO moving down 0.32 percent. Top chipmaker SK hynix lost 0.3 percent.

Builders also traded lower, with Hyundai Engineering & Construction losing 1.15 percent and Daewoo Engineering & Construction decreasing 0.59 percent. Daelim Industrial shed 0.91 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,062.60 won against the U.S. dollar as of 9:15 a.m., down 1.90 won from Friday's close. (Yonhap News)