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For the fourth time in six working days, the trading was halted at the Pakistan Stock Exchange after the KSE-30 index fell down by 5%. On Monday, the KSE-100 index dropped down by nearly 4.58% to 34,409 points amid coronavirus fears. The panic-induced selling caused the index to nosedive over 1,651 points in early trading, which led to a halt to trading activity for nearly 45 minutes as per the new PSX rules. External shocks due to breakout of coronavirus infections are pushing Pakistani stocks into a bear market. Upon imposition of market halt, all equity and equity-based derivative markets got suspended. The ‘market halt’ had been introduced by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) in PSX regulations in December 2019. It comes into action when the KSE-30 index moves 4% either way and remains there for five consecutive minutes. A.A.H Soomro, managing director at Khadim Ali Shah Bukhari Securities Pvt said, “The fear is spreading faster than the virus. Investo..

The State Bank of Pakistan has stated that it is ready to take action to support financial markets in the face of the the coronavirus pandemic, reported Bloomberg. The pandemic has led to a sell-off in the country’s bonds and has also triggered Pakistan’s net sales of $772 million in short-term rupee debt in March after eight successive months of purchases that totaled $3.1 billion. According to the report, State Bank of Pakistan Governor Reza Baqir said in an email The current market volatility in Pakistan is externally driven and the strengthening in the fundamentals of Pakistan’s economy that drove the improvement in Pakistan markets before the outbreak of coronavirus remains intact,” The central bank “is monitoring the situation closely and remains ready to take any actions needed to address disorderly market conditions. The State Bank got involved on Friday, and helped the rupee to advance 0.1% after a four-day decline, according to people familiar with the matter. Global cent..