KARACHI (92 News) – The Pakistan stock market was once again in freefall as the index plunged by over 2,000 points, falling below the significant 30,500 mark on Wednesday.
The slump once again triggered a halt in trading for 45 minutes, fifth in nearly two weeks.
Trading was halted at the PSX less than an hour into the morning session today 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.
Historic drop in US stocks:
Coronavirus fears led to a historic drop in US stocks, shut borders and disrupted daily life around the world, as governments took increasingly drastic measures to try to reduce the severity of the global outbreak.
Financial markets had their worst day in 30 years despite emergency action by global central banks to try to prevent a recession, with US stock markets falling 12% to 13%, wiping out trillions of dollars in market value.
Just a month ago, financial markets were hitting record highs on the assumption the outbreak would largely be contained in China and not cause disruptions beyond what was seen with earlier viral outbreaks of Ebola, SARS and MERS. There have now been more cases and more deaths outside mainland China than inside, with 180,000 cases worldwide and over 7,000 deaths.
Canada, Chile and other countries closed their borders to visitors. Peru deployed masked military personnel to block major roads, while Ireland launched a campaign to recruit more healthcare workers. Airlines slashed flights, shed jobs and asked governments for billions of dollars in loans and grants.
In contrast to much of the world, Mexico and Brazil still held large political rallies and the United Kingdom kept its schools open.
‘INVISIBLE ENEMY’
US states pleaded with the Trump administration on Monday to coordinate a national response to the outbreak, saying patchwork measures enacted by state and local authorities were insufficient to confront the coast-to-coast emergency that has killed at least 74 Americans.
A few hours later, President Donald Trump urged Americans to halt most social activities for 15 days and not congregate in groups larger than 10 people in a newly aggressive effort to reduce the spread of the coronavirus.
