Pakistan Stock Exchange faces yet another setback
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*ISLAMABAD - **Pakistan Stock Exchange faces yet another setback as the tr**ading at the Pakistan Stock Exchange was shut for 45 minutes on Thursday after the KSE-30 index fell 4% around 2:15pm.*
This was the second time in one week that trade had to be halted to prevent investors from a further loss. On Monday, trade was suspended within seven minutes of the market’s opening.
If the KSE-30, which tracks the performance of 30 large and most liquid stocks, moves 4% up or down from its opening value for five minutes, the rule is that trade must be halted for 45 minutes so investors can take fresh positions.
The benchmark KSE-100 index, a gauge to measure the market’s overall performance, lost more than 1,300 points before trading was shut on Thursday, wiping out over Rs185 billion of the market’s value.
On Wednesday, the World Health Organisation declared COVID-19 (the coronavirus) a pandemic and soon after stock markets across the world reacted to it.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average, an index that tracks large companies across American stock markets, shed 1,500 points, ending an 11-year rally. It was down 20% from its peak a month ago.
