ISLAMABAD, Feb 4: Islamabad Stock Exchange has installed ultra trading system from the current week and, consequently, has come at par with the other stock exchanges of Pakistan, ISE Chairman Ch Muhammad Sharif stated here on Tuesday.

As a result, he told this correspondent, any improvements and changes in the stock trading system in one stock exchange would become operative at the same time in the two other stock exchanges.

It would also facilitate greater transparency and efficiency in trading operations, he added.

To a question, he said the ultra system has also paved the way for introduction of the remote facility at the ISE.

The ISE Chairman, who entered the stock market as a broker after his retirement from Pakistan Air Force in 1994, expected that within two months the brokers sitting in any corner of Rawalpindi/Islamabad or even in other cities, say Peshawar, Mardan, Gujar Khan, etc., would be able to engage in trading through computer.

They would not have to come to the ISE in Islamabad to carry out their activities, he remarked.

Asked about his plans to introduce online trading, the ISE Chairman said it was his endeavour to complete the arrangements for the conduct of stock trading through the internet by the end of 2003.

Realizing that the stock trading is a very risky business in which people were prone to incurring huge losses due to lack of knowledge about the mechanics of the market, it had been decided to establish an information centre at the ISE to educate the people in the methods of trading.

The centre would be equipped with a universal telephone line, magazines about the stock markets of the world and also computers to provide latest developments in the stock market.

Often the people were very naive and did not know when to get out and avoid loss of money. It was essential to ensure that the small investors know what kind of brokers they should deal with and when to buy/sell shares.

“A strong, efficiency trading system is our goal,” he remarked. The investors should see to it that they select only a broker who is a member of stock exchange, has good reputation and maintains a CED account.

Responding to a question, Mr. Sharif said the prospects of new companies entering the stock market depended on continuously rising growth rate of overall economy. Regarding wide fluctuations in the stock market in Pakistan, he attributed this to the people coming into it with the intention of investment but choosing to engage only in trading.

Stability in the stock market depended on increasing the number of people participating in the market through investment. To a question, he said it was very difficult to manipulate the market. Those who level such charges did not understand the market, he asserted.

About the ISE’s relations with the Security Exchange Commission of Pakistan, Sharif said ISE throughout its existence had worked in harmony with the SECP because their common goal was regulation and efficiency of the market. “We have never been in conflict with the SECP,” he added.