TEHRAN- TEDPIX, the main index of the Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE), which is Iran’s major stock exchange, fell two percent in the past Iranian calendar week (ended on Friday).

The index stood at 1.718 million points at the end of the past week, IRNA reported.

As reported, most of the trades were conducted through the indices of National Iranian Copper Industry Company, Ghadir Investment company, Bank Saderat, Mobarakeh Steel Company, and Bandar Abbas Oil Refining Company, while information and communication, base metals, wooden products, computer and electronic devices were the most traded items at the TSE during the previous week.

TEDPIX had also experienced an 11.3-percent drop in the week ended on August 21, and a two-percent fall in the week ended on August 14.

It should be mentioned that the index had hit the record high of two million points on August 2, and while it had been experiencing an unprecedented trend of rising over the recent months, it witnessed several days of drop in the past three weeks.

While Iran’s stock market has not received any external shocks such as those form the foreign currency exchange rate, inflation, parallel markets, and international issues, some internal factors have caused the recent drops in this market.

One of the major factors was canceling the offering of shares through the second exchange traded fund (ETF) on due time.

Liberalization of “Justice Shares”, so that trading them in the stock market would be possible, was another contributing factor for the drop in the market.

The government’s plan named “Economic Breakthrough” was the other issue affecting the stock market, as no details were announced about this plan.

On April 15, Iran’s stock market witnessed its largest-ever initial public offering, as Social Security Investment Company (SSIC, also known by its Persian acronym Shasta) offered eight billion shares, which account for 10 percent of its stakes, for sales in Tehran Stock Exchange.

Shasta’s index, which experienced a sharp decline after being closed for three days, has been another contributor to the TEDPIX’s recent fall.

There are also some other factors leading to the recent drops in the stock market, of them it could be referred to reducing the value of brokerage credit, and conducting trades in two shifts per day at the TSE.

MA/MA