This is TEDPIX’s third consecutive week of decline. The benchmark is currently at its lowest in about 4 months and a half.
Iranian weekdays start Saturday and end on Friday. Both of Tehran’s stock exchanges TSE and IFB are closed on Thursday and Friday.
TEDPIX recorded the week’s biggest loss on Saturday, as it sank about 590 points or 0.76%, according to Financial Tribune.
The over-the-counter Iran Fara Bourse was also down this week. The benchmark wiped its last week’s gains and lost 14.7 points or 1.7% to end at 834.9. IFX had gained about 1.5% the week before.
Over 4.68 billion shares valued at $252.7 million were traded on TSE during the past week. The number of traded shares dropped by 18.6% while weekly trade value grew by 1.3% compared to the previous week.
TSE’s First Market Index shed 357 points or 0.65% to end at 54,415.
The Second Market Index lost 1,792 points or 1.08% to close at 163,953.
At IFB, more than 925 million securities valued at $277.4 million were traded in 171,000 transactions. The number of traded shares and weekly trade value grew by 3% and 32% respectively compared to the previous week.
IFB’s market cap lost $1.06 billion or 4% to reach $25.6 billion.
Its First Market witnessed the trading of 90 million securities valued at $3.74 million, indicating a 43% and 47% downturn in the number of traded securities and trade value respectively.
About 356 million securities valued at $43.2 million were traded in the Second Market, with the number of traded securities and trade value rising 4% and 24% respectively week-on-week.
The ‘food and beverages other than sugar’ group of IFB-listed industries had the highest weekly rise in share value (20.3%). ‘Industrial contractors ‘(20%) and ‘construction and real estate’ (9%) came next.
Post Bank to Resume Trading This Week
Post Bank of Iran’s ticker symbol is set to be unfrozen at TSE this week, announced the bank’s managing director, Khosro Farahi, on Wednesday.
PBI was among the four banks suspended from trading since July by the Central Bank of Iran and the Securities and Exchange organization. The other three were Mellat, Tejarat and Saderat.
For years, these banks were giving out dividends that had no real financial backing, since they were using unpaid loans and debts in their profit calculations.
In order to put an end to this practice, the banks were mandated to prepare the financial statements based on International Financial Reporting Standards before being allowed to hold shareholder meetings.
“We were the first bank to provide SEO, CBI and Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finance with [updated] financial statements,” Farahi was quoted as saying by Bourse Press.
He added that the long delay in returning to trade was due to the disharmony between CBI and Iran Audit Organization.
IFRS is a single set of accounting standards, developed and maintained by the International Accounting Standards Board. These standards are now mandated for use by more than 100 countries, including the European Union and by more than two-thirds of the G20 states.
Farahi noted that the adoption of IFRS standards had no significant impact on the bank’s financial standing and forecasted Post Bank’s earnings per share ratio to record minor alterations upon trade resumption.
Mellat and Tejarat’s recent return to trading shook the markets.
On January 24, Bank Mellat’s symbol was unfrozen, sending the bank’s shares down 37.5% to 1,200 rials per share. Following in its footsteps, Tejarat Bank resumed trading on February 1 with no set cap and recorded a 33.76% drop in its share value to 665 rials per share.
PBI is a commercial bank owned by the government and has more than 12,000 branches and sub-branches across the country. The bank’s main task is to offer services in remote areas.
The bank was recently selected as the agent bank for financing rural businesses.