Net capital outflow by retail investors continued for the 12th consecutive session Wednesday but the amount was less compared to the week before
During five trading sessions in the last business week, 18.82 trillion rials ($58 million) was taken out by retail investors. This was down 16% on the 22.42 trillion rials ($72.3m) seen in the week before.
Despite the decline, the pattern of capital outflow is raising renewed concern about the liquidity crunch in the share market due to the increasing unwillingness of retail traders to invest in share market.
Retail trade dropped 7% from the week before, down 41.54 trillion rials ($129m) per day on average to 38.61 trillion rials ($120m) on a daily basis in the previous week.
Investors mainly sold stocks in chemicals, base metals, refinery and insurance companies, according to the Eqtesad News website.
In light of mounting uncertainty, retail investors have been averse to trade in recent weeks with institutional investors picking up the slack.
Persistent decline in retail trade is seen as a bad omen for the bourse and experts say if the market is to improve retail investors must do their share.
Major market indicators fell last week in tandem with the capital outflow. The main index of Tehran Stock Exchange, TEDPIX, dropped 19,678 points or 1.3% to reach 1,513,715.
The TSE’s equal-weighted index dropped close to 0.2%, indicating better performance of small caps and penny stocks.
