Trading to resume at 11:25am as fire breaks out in PSX building

Trading was suspended at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) as a fire broke out at the fourth floor of the exchange building on Monday in Karachi.

“It is hereby informed to all TRE Certificate Holders and concerned that the trading in all securities has been temporarily suspended from 10:25 am to 11:25 am today, due to the fire that broke out in the
brokerage firm’s office in the Stock Exchange building,” the PSX said in a statement.

“Due to this incident, many of the firms are unable to access the building,” it added.

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%.

Earlier, Saeed Ahmed Soomro of PSX informed media that four fire brigades reached the exchange and are managing the situation.

“The fourth floor consists of brokerage houses, however, the situation remains under control.

“However, at the moment it is difficult to ascertain the cause of fire,” he added.

In an email sent to clients by a brokerage house, and reviewed by media, it was stated that loss of connectivity was being experienced as well.

“Due to a fire incident in Pakistan Stock Exchange building we have lost our connectivity with the exchange,” said a brokerage house to its clients via email.

“Our IT team is working their utmost best to restore the connection.”

In 2018, a fire broke out in rooftop of PSX Broker’s building, which was managed through PSX’s firefighting system within 40 minutes without hampering the Trading and Clearing Operations of the Exchange.