Trading at the Pakistan Stock Exchange was halted for a second consecutive day on Thursday just seven minutes into trading when the large-cap KSE-30 index slipped to around 12,300, down 7.2 per cent.

Meanwhile the benchmark KSE-100 index opened at 28,853 – around 5.13pc in the red – and had lost 1,752 points (5.76pc) to reach 28,664 at 9:37am, when the circuit breaker was activated.

For the benchmark KSE-100 index, levels of around 28,900 represent a decline of around 29pc for the year and back to lows seen eight months ago; the index had closed at 28,765 points on Aug 16, 2019.

“In the absence of any stable buying presence, investors begrudgingly lowered their ‘asks’ to their lower caps with 48 of the KSE-100 stocks at or near their lower cap of 7.5 per cent,” Ali Asghar Poonawala, Deputy Head of Research at AKD Securities, told Dawn.com.

“Both the severity and drastic nature of the shift from a bull to bear market seems to have caught investors off-guard with the KSE-100 losing almost one-third of its value from its high this year of 43,218 points seen only two months ago [on Jan 13],” Poonawala said.

Following the halt, resumption of trade saw a major rally, with the index regaining almost 1,900 points from the day's low to close at 30,378 – just 38 points (0.001pc) down.

Poonawala said the recovery came largely on the back of exploration and production (E&P) companies and some momentum in banks. “Strong volumes have also lifted sentiment, with investors clearly lured by relatively cheap valuations on offer.”

Muhammad Faizan Munshy, Head of Foreign Sales at Next Capital Limited, said the market opened lower today in continuation of the bearish spell being witnessed in the last few sessions.

But he said after resumption of trading following the enforced halt, value buying was witnessed in the market, helping recover most of the day's losses.

Today's morning frenzy comes on the back of yesterday's carnage, when the KSE-100 index sank 6.75 per cent in a new low in 18 years. Yesterday's session also beat the earlier record fall of 6.59pc witnessed on Monday. Point-wise, the benchmark dipped 2,200.88 points on Wednesday and closed at 30,416.

Before today's session, the benchmark index had plummeted by 5,645 points this week alone, representing an incredible 16.5pc – the highest three-day decline in history point-wise and in terms of percentage since the 21.7pc slump on June 1998.

Equity markets world over, not just in Pakistan, have been crashing over the past two weeks, as the coronavirus pandemic has halted economic activity across the globe, heightening fears of a global depression.

Two days ago the State Bank of Pakistan came up with a revised monetary policy, slashing the policy rate by 75bps citing decreasing inflationary pressure following disruptions due to the virus outbreak.

The central bank noted that the COVID-19 pandemic had precipitated a slowdown in global demand and volatility in world financial markets, as well as a steep fall in oil prices.

Traders, who were anticipating aggressive easing in the form of a higher rate cut, did not take well to the announcement, with the benchmark index witnessing one of its worst sell-offs ever on Wednesday.