PSX crashes by 2375 points over rising coronavius fears

KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) nosedived by 2400 points in intra-day trading due to the rising fear about the coronavirus outbreak.

There was a complete sea of red as the benchmark KSE 100 index dropped by 2375.97 points, marking a staggering decline of 6.59 percent to close at 33,684.91 points. The market dropped way below the 34,000 level back to the level seen over four months ago since October 2019.

The bourse nosedived just moments after trading resume as the KSE 100 index was down 1947.47 points in the opening hours of the opening session before noon. Trading was halted at around 10:10 AM for 45 minutes as the lower bench KSE 30-index declined by 5.53 percent immediately after opening.

According to PSX rules, trading has to remain suspended when the KSE 30 index dropped by more than four percent or goes down in a single direction for five consecutive minutes. This is the fourth time since last Monday that trading has been suspended on the stock market.

A similar trend was seen last Monday when the stock market saw the biggest single-day decline in over a decade. The purpose of the market halt is to safeguard investors and market participants in a volatile market. During the halt, trading remains suspended to ensure a cooling period as a risk management measure.

The KSE 100 index dropped 1651.28 points less than an hour into trading as panic spread over the coronavirus sending ripples through the stock market. The total volume of shares was 170.250 points valued at Rs7.421 billion.

Meanwhile, the KSE 30 index bled 1151.72 points and closed at 14,864.92 points. This marks a whopping decline of 7.19 percent within a single day. The total volume of shares was 81.913 points.

With today’s decline, the benchmark index recorded a decline of 17.4 percent in the current year. The stock market saw the highest level at 43,218 on January 13, 2020 but has fallen by 12 percent ever since the first coronavirus case was reported.

The negative sentiment since the last week spilled over on the first day of the week frightening investors as the number of coronavirus cases reached 94 in Pakistan. There have been trade, economic, and travel disruption around the world resulting from the virus outbreak.