Stocks waxed and waned in a mixed session at the Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE) on Monday, after the TEDPIX managed to shift to an uptrend at the end of trading hours to eventually record a flat trading day.
After six bullish trading days, the TSE witnessed a fragile trading day, following mixed news on nuclear talks in Oman, with the TEDPIX edging up 7.4 points or 0.01 percent to 76,560.8, staying in green.
The first day of the new round of talks between Iran and the P5+1 over Iran’s nuclear program ended on Sunday in Oman. Western news agencies were sending out mixed messages from the second day of talks highlighting the gaps between the parties. As the unsettled investors keep tracking the nuclear talks, all the feedback so far seems to have put investors on edge.
Market jitters contributed to the TSE benchmark’s sentiment negatively, but as the recent positive mood prevailed, the indices partly helped lift the TEDPIX into the green.
According to the TSE’s website, the first market index slipped 88.5 points or 0.13 percent to end at 56,825.9. The second market index rose 634.1 points or 0.43 percent to settle at 147,783.1. The free floating index was down 116.3 points or 0.13 percent to 88,178.8. The industry index gained 21 points or 0.03 percent to 63,808.2, and the blue chip index failed to contribute positively, inching down 7 points or 0.2 percent to 3,544.5.
Despite a downtrend in the trading volume and value, the market cap ticked higher, demonstrating that investors have already trusted the market stability of the past two weeks and have since poured money into the equity market.
Based on the TSE’s data, more than 994 million shares changed hands in 86,932 transaction rounds, worth almost 2.5 trillion rials, indicating a slight decrease compared to the prior trading day.
Saipa topped the trading volume having large groups of investors lining up for its shares. Besides, Saipa succeeded in having a positive impact on the market benchmark with 22.11 percent. Karafarin Bank took the second place, and Saipa Employees Investment Company stood third.
Persian Gulf Petrochemical Industry Company grabbed investors’ attention as its traded shares left more than a 70 percent positive impact on the TSE’s gauge. Saipa and Kharg Petrochemical Company took the second and third places, respectively.
Omani officials on Monday underlined that the nuclear negotiators are about to reach a comprehensive agreement, which could dramatically boost the Iranian economy.
The Omani Foreign Minister Youssef bin Alawi gave reporters an upbeat assessment of the talks. “By the level of commitment all parties are showing, we feel comfortable,” he said. “There is no going back ... I feel that all parties are willing to reach an agreement,” Reuters reported.
Given the possible announcement of the agreement, the equity market may run away with itself, giving a dramatic boost to Iran’s foreign trade.
The economy is still grappling with recession. However, most market analysts believe that the difficult economic situation won’t fundamentally affect the listed firms’ operations, as most of them are enjoying stable profits.
