TEHRAN- TEDPIX, the main index of Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE), lost 16,348 points to 1.821 million on Wednesday.

As reported, over 15.575 billion securities worth 89.95 trillion rials (about $224 million) were traded at the TSE on Wednesday.

TEDPIX gained 132,000 points in the past Iranian calendar week (ended on Friday).

The index lost 155,778 points (9.22 percent) in the previous Iranian calendar month Bahman (ended on February 19).

TSE is one of the four Iranian stock exchanges, and the most important one. The other three ones are Iran Mercantile Exchange (IME), Iran Energy Exchange (IRENEX), and Iran’s over-the-counter (OTC) market, known as Iran Fara Bourse (IFB).

A stock market analyst believes that TEDPIX is expected to follow an upward trend in the last month of the current Iranian calendar year (February 20-March 20).

“Now the stock market is in a good position for investment, and paying attention to the issues affecting the stock market can help in the improvement and prosperity of this market,” Majid Mohammad-Alizadeh told IRNA in mid-February.

He pointed to the recent fluctuations in the stock market and the factors affecting it, saying: “The lack of trust and confidence as well as the uncertainty of the investors in the capital market caused them to be more cautious and reduced their sense of risk-taking to a great extent which disrupted the upward trend of the stock market.”

According to the expert, rumors and false news, intrusive and non-expert comments, and numerous redundant bills passed by parliament have also contributed to the uncertainty in investors' decision-making.

Mohammad-Alizadeh further pointed to other influential factors in the withdrawal of liquidity from the stock market and said: “The attractiveness of parallel markets has also caused the withdrawal of liquidity from the stock market and has pushed investors towards parallel markets.”

“The combination of all these factors has caused the growth of the stock market index to slow down,” he said.

In late October 2022, Iran’s Securities and Exchange Organization (SEO) unveiled a comprehensive support package to encourage activities in the capital market as shareholders were getting reluctant to invest in the market.

MA/MA