Tehran Stocks Soar 3 Percent

EghtesadOnline: Tehran Stock Exchange and Iran Fara Bourse clocked their biggest single-session point gains in more than a month on Saturday. TSE's main index, TEDPIX, rose 4,778.26 or 3.00%, as of market close, ending at 164,267.8 points. Iran Fara Bourse's main gauge IFX was up 42.37 points or 2.13%.

News ID: ۷۴۶۷۶۲

24 February 2019

Shares of commodity, mineral and petrochemical giants were among the biggest gainers on Saturday. As Donyaye Bourse website reported, big firms had the biggest impact on Saturday's growth while small firms had insignificant activity.

Improved prospects for the global economy, robust oil prices, and the US Federal Reserve's decision to put the brakes on its tight monetary policy and progress in US-China trade talks are among these factors.

Oil prices touched their highest since mid-November on Friday and posted weekly gains for the second week in a row, boosted by hopes that US-China trade talks would soon produce a deal, although new record US oil supply limited gains, according to Financial Tribune.

Brent crude futures briefly reached $67.73 a barrel, their 2019 high. The global benchmark fell 5 cents to settle at $67.12 a barrel. Brent gained 1.2% on the week.

Top US and Chinese trade negotiators met on Friday to wrap up a week of talks that have seen the two sides struggle to reach a deal by a March 1 deadline.  US President Donald Trump will meet with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He at the Oval Office later on Friday.

Fed officials discussed at their meeting three weeks ago ending the reduction of bonds on the central bank's balance sheet before the end of 2019, according to minutes released Wednesday.

"Almost all participants thought that it would be desirable to announce before too long a plan to stop reducing the federal reserve's asset holdings later this year. Such an announcement would provide more certainty about the process for completing the normalization of the size of the fed balance sheet," the document said.

The rise in foreign exchange rates in Iran’s domestic market is another factor for the renewed optimism among stock investors. With monthly earning results of companies about to be released, investors expect bumpy results for export-based companies.

The USD exchange rate recorded a 30% increase in the open market during the two months to Feb. 19, according to economist Ehsan Soltani.

Although in response to the positive FATF outcome on Friday the greenback temporarily dropped below the 130,000 threshold, the currency gained again on Saturday. On Saturday the greenback was worth 135,500 rials.

The anti-money laundering body, the Financial Action Task Force said on Friday that it has extended the suspension of countermeasures against Iran for another four months, recognizing the country's efforts in meeting its Action Plan.