Trading resumes after blaze in Pakistan Stock Exchange building
Pakistan
No causality reported in the incident
KARACHI (Reuters/Dunya News) – The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) resumed trading on Monday after a two-hour suspension due to a fire in the bourse's Karachi headquarters.
In a notice on its website, the exchange said trading was suspended at 10:25 am (0525 GMT) and would resume at 12:25 pm (0725 GMT).
The situation was under control, it said, and brokerage firms' staff had started returning to the premises.
The KSE-100, the PSX's main index, has in recent months risen to a historic high, surpassing 80,000 points on the back of an International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout last summer that averted a default and more recently, amid continuing reforms under the lender's umbrella.
On Monday, the KSE-100 was up 0.53 per cent, or 427.3 points, after trading resumed following the fire.
Earlier, suspension of trading was extended till after 12:30pm, after the PSX administration suspended trading in the morning as the building was choked with smoke due to fire.
The building remained closed to the staff and traders as a precautionary measure after fire fighters extinguished the fire broke out in an office on the fourth floor of the building located on II Chundrigar Road.
A Rescue 1122 spokesperson said four fire brigade vehicles, a snorkel and a bowser took part in the operation.
The floor was choked with smoke which had been cleared and there was no casualty as the fire erupted early in the morning, the spokesperson added, as the cause of the fire could not be ascertained.
