Retail traders in Iran's bourse have taken out 400 trillion rials ($1.4 billion) after the chaotic market started to nosedive since mid-August.
While a slew of neophytes flooded the market with new cash throughout the first five months of the current Iranian year (March-August), the flow reversed with the start of the sixth month (August 21) continues to this day.
Inquiries by the Persian-language economic news website, eghtesadnews, show more than 1,033 trillion trials ($3.8 billion) flowed into the market in the first six months of the fiscal year (March 20-Sept. 21) when the lure of the lucrative market was high.
Retail investors brought more than 336 trillion rials during the spring (March 20-June 21) or 32% of the liquidity inflow.
With prices at historic highs, many people were convinced about buying shares. In the rush 700 trillion rials flowed in the bourse in 50 days of summer (June 22- August 10). This caused a frenzy leading to a bubble.
Market indicators started falling after the stock market bubble burst and panicked investors started to flee. They moved 170 trillion rials ($620m) out of the market in the last month of summer (Aug 22-Sept. 21).
With the beginning of the autumn and share prices diving deeper, capital outflow reached 230 trillion ($850m) from Sept. 22 up until now.
On the back of fresh liquidity the main index of Tehran Stock Exchange, TEDPIX, crossed an all-time high of 2 million points on August 9 – an unprecedented 300% growth since the beginning of the fiscal year, when the benchmark stood at around 500,000 points.
The TSE main index collapsed and plunged to reach 1,211,935 points by Tuesday, down 41% from the historic level.
The prolonged downturn has provoked the ire of retail investors. Newcomers complain that government has failed to deliver on its promise to support the market when it regularly called on the public to “invest in the bourse”. Many have protested in recent days in Tehran and say the plunging stock market, among other things, has harmed the people’s trust in the government.
