Tehran Stock Exchange went up by 342 points mostly influenced by mega-cap names like Esfahan’s Mobarake Steel and also thanks to better than expected Q2 performances of Metal producers. However, the value of trades in both the TSE and IFB was light ahead of the upcoming holidays.
– Following the foreign investors’ entrance to the real part of Iran’s economy, a female individual investor submitted her request to buy an 18.84% stake in Asia Insurance Co, (one of the Iranian Insurance Sector blue-chips) to the Central Insurance of I.R. Iran. Right now the SEO is evaluating the customer (KYC process) along with the possible routes of fund transfers. Earlier last year, Iranian government officially divested from Asia Insurance Company complying with latest privatization directives.
– Treasury Department of Iranian government announced the issuance of Sukuk Musharaka (on Iran Debt Market) worth IRR 2,000 bn (cUSD 42.03 mn) capitalizing the fast tracks (high-speed train) between Tehran, Qom and Isfahan provinces. These securities will be issued with a nominal yield of 20%, a maturity of 4 years and semi-annual coupon payments. The below table shows the latest status of Iranian debt market as of March 28, 2018.
– Following the policies to expand the scope of Iran Debt Market and providing Iranian companies with proper finances via debt securities, a new wave of corporate and governmental Sukuks are to be published soon on Iran Fara Bourse and Tehran Stock Exchange (see description below):
– In an interview, the head of the Securities and Exchange Organization of Iran enumerated the reasons for the 27% growth of the Tehran Stock Exchange major index (TEDPIX) in the current year. Referring to the whole trading value (4 exchange markets) exceeding IRR 2,100,000 (cUSD 47 bn) bn, he firstly mentioned President Rouhani’s administration’s economic policies to lower interest rate on banking deposits, which also dragged bonds yield rate and therefore, financing costs for companies down as well. Another factor was companies’ profitability growth, mostly due to facilities offered by the government and global commodity prices soar. A part of this growth was due to the USD/IRR increase, which raised export-oriented companies’ income. Applying changes to the halting-reopening mechanism of the market to accelerate the whole process played another crucial role by increasing the market liquidity. To all these, the reduction in trading commission must also be noted, which will show its positive effect in the long run.
– According to the Central Bank of Iran’s (CBI) statistics, the government’s tax income has surpassed its oil revenue of Iran’s Economy by IRR 76,000 in the first 10 months of the current year. In this regard, the Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance released a plan to revive the country’s current tax system in 2018/19 which contains 3 new tax bases as well as organizing tax exemption schemes mostly through lowering its ceiling in free trade zones and agriculture sector among other things.
– The cabinet members released the initial draft of bylaw governing the partnership between Iranian banks and credit institutes and foreign counterparts, either individuals or institutions. According to the new bylaw, the caps for foreign participation on Iranian Banks and credit institutes are as follows:
– In order to maintain the current calm situation of the FX market, a new wave of Islamic Treasury Bills with a nominal yield of 20.5% will be issued on Iran Fara Bourse from Saturday, Mar 10, 2018.” Said Nobakht the Spokesperson of the Government of Iran. President Rohani’s administration tried hard to leash USD/IRR before by introducing the CBI rescue package.
– On the 7th conference on Monetary Policies and Challenges Ahead Iran Banking Sector and Production held yesterday, the modernization and independence of the Iran Central Bank were deeply discussed. Resorting to examples like the operation of non-regulated financial institutions plus the divergence between the interest rate on banking deposits and the declining inflation rate to stress on the necessity of the CBI independence, lecturers raised the question whether the CBI had the required structure and authority to prevent such problems in the first place or not.
– After the offering of Iran Central Bank rescue package and only in 5 working days, a figure of IRR 1,010,000 bn (cUSD 22.56 bn) from nation’s money supply (e.g. liquidity) migrated from streets to 20% bank deposits. Emphasizing on that, the chair of CBI announced that the other two tools of mentioned rescue package (pre-sale of gold coin and IRR deposits backed by foreign currency) was not as effective as.