Investment funds in the domestic capital market held assets worth 6,078 trillion rials ($19.6 billion) by end of the first Iranian calendar month to April 20.
The assets were managed by 289 funds, including fixed income funds, mixed investment funds, equity funds and market making funds.
According to data released by the Securities and Exchange Organization, fixed income funds had the lion’s share with 4,338 trillion rials ($13.77b), up on 3,892 trillion rials ($12.3 billion) the month before. There were 101 fixed income fund in the mentioned period.
A total of 22 mixed investment funds handled 26.9 trillion rials compared with 23.34 trillion rials the month ago.
Mixed funds are investment funds that invest in fixed income and equity instruments. Each fund has its own investment strategy with varying percentage of capital invested in fixed income and equities.
According to SEO data, assets managed by equity funds stood at 589.74 trillion rials. There were 89 equity funds in the said period. A month ago 88 equity funds held 514.4 trillion rials.
Also called a stock fund, an equity fund is a fund that invests primarily in stocks. Stock funds can be contrasted with bond funds and money funds and typically include stocks, with small amount of cash.
Market maker funds accounted for 1,123.4 trillion rials of total assets managed by investment funds. They managed 962 trillion rials a month before. Eighty market making funds operate in the capital market.
Market makers essentially act as wholesalers buying and selling securities to balance the market — the prices they set reflect market supply and demand.
ETFs
Up until April 20, exchange-traded funds registered a market capitalization of 1,120 trillion rials ($3.6 billion), indicating 9.3% increase on the month before.
An ETF is a type of fund that owns underlying assets (shares, stocks, bonds, oil futures, gold bullion and foreign currency) and divides ownership of those assets into shares.
ETFs hold multiple underlying assets, rather than only one like a stock. An ETF can own hundreds or thousands of stocks across various industries, or can be isolated to one particular industry or sector.
Market capitalization of an ETF is calculated by multiplying the number of shares issued in the fund by the share price.
The highest market cap was registered for ETFs in the Tehran Stock Exchange at 678.2 trillion rials followed by Iran Fara Bourse at 341.73 trillion rials.
ETFs operating in the Iran Energy Exchange and Iran Mercantile Exchange accounted for 72 trillion rials and 28.9 trillion rials, respectively.
