RIO DE JANEIRO, March 16 (Xinhua) -- Brazil's Stock Exchange B3 plunged more than 10 percent on Monday amid fears of the global COVID-19 pandemic, triggering a circuit breaker that temporarily suspended trading.

It was the first circuit breaker of the week, but the fifth in eight days. Last week, the circuit breaker was activated once on Monday and Wednesday, and twice on Thursday.

The mechanism automatically activates when the Bovespa Index (Ibovespa) loses more than 10 percent, purportedly giving investors time to reconsider panic selling.

By the end of the day, the Ibovespa saw a drop of 13.92 percent, reaching levels registered in June 2018, amid the global financial crisis.

The Ibovespa has fallen 31.68 percent so far in March. This year, it has seen an accumulated drop of 38.45 percent.

The Brazilian real also took a hit, trading at a record low of 5.04 reais to the U.S. dollar on Monday. So far this year, the real has devalued 25.68 percent against the U.S. dollar.