The total value in the main Iranian stock exchange has reached all-time highs thanks to a boom in trade which has come despite a fall in the value of the country’s currency.
Figures published on Sunday on a website monitoring trade at the Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE) showed that the value of the market had neared 18,165 trillion rials (just below $118 billion), based on an unofficial rate of 153,000 for each rial against the US dollar.
That came as TEDPIX, the main index in the TSE, rose to an all-time high of nearly 499,000, closing 3.55 percent higher than Saturday. TSE’s price index TEPIX also rallied by 3.88 percent to stand at 102,799 points.
A total of 5.687 billion shares were traded in the TSE on Sunday in 625,911 times of exchange with an overall value of 41.704 trillion rials (over $272 million).
Trade in the TSE is becoming increasingly popular among many Iranians who tend to prefer it to volatile markets that have absorbed much of the economic shocks created by the American sanctions on Iran.
Many households seek to buy shares of major state-run companies or bonds issued by the government to protect their savings against fluctuations in the currency and gold markets.
The historic boom in TSE trade on Sunday came two days after the global money laundering watchdog FATF placed Iran on its blacklist, causing a drop of nearly 13 percent in the value of the rial.
The rial was slightly rebounding on Sunday, however, as Iranian central bank governor promised he will introduce measures to prevent a free fall in the value of currency.
Abdolnasser Hemmati said that Bank Markazi was unruffled by the hysteria and speculative trade involving currency, adding that pragmatic methods will be used to restore stability to the forex market.