Staff Reporter
Karachi
Trading was halted at the Pakistan Stock Exchange less than an hour into the morning session on Wednesday after the benchmark KSE-100 index tanked over 5 per cent as investors reacted with disappointment to the lower-than-expected cut in the policy rate announced by the central bank yesterday.
Right from the outset, shares began slipping into the red without looking the other way, forcing a halt in trading after the top market capitalisation KSE-30 index sank below the 5pc mark for the second time this week and a fifth time in the two weeks since March 9.
At around 10:17am, when trading came to a stop, the benchmark index had lost 1,682 points, or 5.4pc, to reach 30,934. The large-cap KSE-30 index was down 896 points, or 6.26pc, to 13,425.
The benchmark KSE-100 index was down 2,203 points, or 6.75 per cent, as of 2:29pm – over three hours after trading resumed.
At current levels the KSE-100 has fallen 26pc during the year, taking the index back to levels seen six months ago: On Sept 11, 2019, the benchmark index had closed at 30,955.
So far, significant volumes were seen in cements, commercial banks and oil marketing companies, with all sectors witnessing pressure. Earlier this week on Monday, PSX suffered its worst single-day decline in history. Amid the mad rush to jettison shares – trigerred by the coronarvirus pandemic and the ensuing global economic slowdown – investors saw equity values hit their lower circuits.
As a result the KSE-100 index had plunged by 2,375.97 points, representing the steepest ever decline point-wise in a single day and a loss of 6.59 per cent, the heaviest one day drop in percentage terms, second only to the crash of 7.45pc witnessed on May 20, 2002.
