KARACHI: After witnessing Black Monday, the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) once again witnessed another bloodbath on Thursday and was closed for 45 minutes as the KSE-100 index fell 1,324 points due to the coronavirus threat and fall in oil prices.
It is pertinent to mention here that a similar halt was observed on Monday when the KSE-100 saw its biggest single-day fall in a decade and it was called black Monday.
The KSE-100 index was down 3.64 per cent (1,324 points) to 36,349.
Financial markets plunged as oil slumped after US President Donald Trump took the dramatic step of banning travel from Europe to reduce the impact of the coronavirus, threatening more disruptions to trade and the world economy.
The economic damage from the coronavirus pandemic continued to dent investor sentiments who offloaded stocks in sectors across the board.
According to press release issued by the PSX management, PSX has triggered a market halt at 02:13 pm which will last for 45 minutes. The market halt is triggered as a standard protocol for risk management purposes.
Market Halt
“Market halt” procedure has been introduced by SECP in PSX regulations in December of 2019. The action triggers when the KSE-30 index moves 4 % either way and remains there for 5 consecutive minutes.
The objective of introducing market halt is to safeguard investors and market participants during volatile markets. During this halt, trading in all securities remains temporarily suspended in order to ensure a cooling off period and run a mark to market activity as a risk management measure.
