*ISLAMABAD – **Pakistan Stock Exchange crashed on Thursday after first caseof Coronavirus surfaces in the country.*
*The Pakistan Stock Exchange saw its biggest intra-day fall in a year onThursday morning after Pakistan confirmed its first case of coronavirus theday before.*
The benchmark KSE-100 index, a gauge to measure market performance, shed1,400 points or 3.5% within two hours of opening.
It was the biggest single-day fall since February 27, 2019 (exactly oneyear ago) when the Pakistan Air Force had shot down an Indian fighter jetand captured its pilot Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman.
That day, the market had shed 1,500 points in the fear of an Indo-Pak war,but recovered almost entirely after Prime Minister Imran Khan announcedthat Pakistan would be returning the captured pilot in gesture of peace.Today was a different story as the market was still trading at 37,557points, down 2% from its opening level, when this story went online.
Pakistan confirmed its first two cases of coronavirus on Wednesday evening,which caused panic among investors already concerned over reports of thedeadly virus spreading to other countries.
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Investors across the globe have resorted to selling following reports ofrising number of cases of coronavirus and turned to safe havens, such asgold.
Italy, France, Germany, Denmark, Brazil, Kuwait, Bahrain, the UAE, the US,Canada and Australia are some of the countries that have reported cases ofcoronavirus. But the worst hit are South Korea and Iran that have reportedthe most number of cases and deaths after China, the virus epicentre.
The spillover effects could be seen in markets across the globe asinternational oil prices fell and stock markets were down.
