A study by the Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mining and Agriculture says the value of equities traded on the stock market reached 574.2 points during the eight months to November 21, significantly higher than previous year's 262.8 points. This puts TSE above the safe haven currency, gold coin and real estate markets, in terms of the growth in returns.
The number of traded shares also increased by 87%, from 201 points in the previous year to 376.9 points in the year. TCCIM released the data as per the base figure of 100 points in fiscal 2016-17, according to Financial Tribune.
The impressive growth in Iran’s stock market has been ascribed to multiple factors, namely the inflow of fresh liquidity, lackluster performance of parallel markets and big increase in the number of investors.
Parallel Markets
The report ranks the housing market as next best, as the average price of a housing unit in Tehran city increased by 74% during the eight-month period from 73 million rials per m2 to 127 million.
Experts say the stability in parallel markets directed demand toward real estate. Following the volatile market conditions last year, partly because of speculation, the housing market is regaining some balance and this is encouraging people to invest in real estate -- usually the sector that has given the highest returns as prices have hardly ever stopped ascending in the past half century, especially in urban areas.
Emami gold coin and the Bahar Azadi gold coin came after with respectively 39% and 34.2% annual growth in average prices during the first eight months of the fiscal year.
The average price of an Emami coin was 30.8 million rials in the first eight months of the last year, whereas it jumped to 42.9 million rials this year.
Currencies ranked below other assets during the period. As per the report, average price of a US dollar was 125,300 rials during the first eight months of current year, up 22.8% compared to last year's 102.000 rials.
Average price of a euro in the period marked a year-on-year growth of 18.4%, from 119,000 rials to 141,000 rials. Growth for the pound sterling was 14.1%.
According to CBI, average price of the greenback and euro in the month to November 21, registered a year-on-year decline of 16.5% and 19.8%, respectively.
Foreign exchange rates fluctuated last year but the market has become more stable in recent months. Experts believe that the CBI has managed to control the price swings mainly through increasing supply and cutting speculative activities in the market.
In a recent interview the CBI governor said that the regulator's focus is mostly on sustaining market stability, rather the controlling exchange rates.
The report includes data about inflation, according to which the average goods and services CPI in the eight-month period ending Nov. 21 increased by 40.7% compared to the same period last year.
Overall CPI reached 178.1 for urban households and 185.8 for rural households, indicating a year-on-year increase of 40.1% and 44.9% for urban and rural areas, respectively.