*ISLAMABAD – **Pakistan Stock Exchange faces yet another setback asthe tr**adingat the Pakistan Stock Exchange was shut for 45 minutes on Thursday afterthe KSE-30 index fell 4% around 2:15pm.*
This was the second time in one week that trade had to be halted to preventinvestors from a further loss. On Monday, trade was suspended within sevenminutes of the market’s opening.
If the KSE-30, which tracks the performance of 30 large and most liquidstocks, moves 4% up or down from its opening value for five minutes, therule is that trade must be halted for 45 minutes so investors can takefresh positions.
The benchmark KSE-100 index, a gauge to measure the market’s overallperformance, lost more than 1,300 points before trading was shut onThursday, wiping out over Rs185 billion of the market’s value.
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On Wednesday, the World Health Organisation declared COVID-19 (thecoronavirus) a pandemic and soon after stock markets across the worldreacted to it.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average, an index that trackslarge companies across American stock markets, shed 1,500 points, ending an11-year rally. It was down 20% from its peak a month ago.
