STOCKS AROUNG THE WORLD THIS WEEK

SWEDEN:

When a stock like LM Ericsson, which accounts for about 10 per cent of the Stockholm market's OMX index, rallies, it has an impact on the index, especially when it is coupled with a solid improvement in Nordea Bank AB and retailer Hennes & Mauritz AB. Each of those stocks also represent about a 10-per-cent weighting in the index.

LUXEMBOURG:

Luxembourg is a relatively small player in global markets, given that the size of the grand duchy, which has just a half million residents. Its LuxX index has just 10 members. Like so many other markets, it has come under pressure this year and is down 25 per cent year-to-date.

PAKISTAN:

No question about it; many investors around the world have lost money this year, but few apparently take it to heart like some investors in Karachi this week. Nearly 1,000 investors, with in most cases small portfolios, took out their frustration over falling stock prices by smashing windows

of the stock exchange. For the record, the Karachi Stock Exchange KSE 100 index slumped 12.5 per cent on the week.

VIETNAM:

The Vietnamese Ho Chi Minh stock index has plummeted 48 per cent in 2008. And that is the decline after this past week's 6-per-cent gain. The lesson here: Even bad markets have good weeks once in a while.

JAPAN:

The Nikkei-225 stock average has been losing ground since early June and this week was no exception. The index dropped 2 per cent, which brought its year-to-date decline to 16 per cent, a modest decline by world standards.