The stock market crashed in the early trading hours on Monday after the benchmark KSE-100 Index declined by over 2,000 points.

The 100 index was trading at 36,113 points, when the authorities halted the trading after the loss of 2,106 points in the first half an hour of the trading.

If the KSE 30 index falls 4.5pc or more, trading is halted for 45 minutes.

Global share markets tumbled as panicked investors fled headlong to bonds to hedge the economic trauma of the coronavirus, and oil plunged more than 30% after Saudi Arabia opened the taps in a price war with Russia.

Trading floors were a sea of red across Asia, with Tokyo, Sydney and Manila plunging around 6%, while Hong Kong shed 3.5% by lunch.

Mumbai, Singapore, Seoul, Jakarta and Wellington were more than 3% down, Shanghai and Taipei shed at least 2% and Bangkok gave up 5%. The losses tracked sharp falls in Europe and Wall Street on Friday.