Trading resumed after being suspended for nearly two hours at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) as fire broke out at the fourth floor of the main exchange building in Karachi on Monday.
The market saw a suspension for about two hours, from 10:25am till 12:30pm, after fire broke out at the main building where several brokerage houses have their offices.
Building housing brokerage houses suffers ‘limited damage’, says PSX after fire incident
In its second notice on the subject, PSX informed “that the situation is under control and brokerage firms’ staff has started getting back to their premises”.
“To ensure smooth reopening of the market for all concerned, the temporary suspension in trading in all securities has been further extended till 12:25 pm today,” it said.
Earlier, the PSX had said trading in all securities has been temporarily suspended from 10:25 am to 11:25 am, due to the fire that broke out in the brokerage firm’s office in the PSX building.
“Due to this incident, many of the firms are unable to access the building,” it added.
However, even at 11:35am, trading activity remained suspended with market talk suggesting another delay of around an hour.
Earlier, at 10:25am, before the suspension of trading, the benchmark KSE-100 was hovering at 80,240.83, an increase of 28.04 points or 0.03%.
Despite disrupted session, KSE-100 settles at new record high
Fire incident
A senior official at the PSX had informed media that four fire brigades reached the exchange and were managing the situation.