Trading Shares halted for the third time this week, crashing Pakistan Stock Exchange on Friday sending Benchmark KSE 100 index down to 20%

The Pakistan Stock Exchange crashed in early hours as the business day started, the index down to 20 percent from its highest this year.

The index fell 1600 points on Friday.

The KSE-100 fell 13% in a week or since March 5 and trading at a five-month low of 34,273 points before trade was halted.

It was the third time this week that trade had to be halted.

If the KSE-30, which tracks the performance of 30 large and most liquid stocks, moves 4% up or down from its opening value for five minutes, the rule is that trade must be halted  for 45 minutes so investors can take fresh positions.

Furthermore The KSE-30 index, which rarely comes into the news, fell 4% on Monday within seven minutes of the market’s opening.

On Thursday it fell as much again around 2:15pm and today (Friday) it was down 4% within minutes of its opening.