Tehran Stock Exchange witnessed slight changes this week. The TSE All-Share Index recorded a 0.3% minor decrease to close at 62,550 as the trading week ended on Tuesday, due to a public holiday on Wednesday.
The main index of Tehran Stock Exchange is already at its lowest level since October 14, 2015. TEDPIX fell below the 63,000 level two weeks ago and has not recovered yet, global online currency trading portal FXstreet reported in its latest edition of Iran Weekly Market Report.
Due to weak performances of the index in recent weeks, the technical analysis prospect indicates a possibility of further declines toward the support level of 61,500. This is the main support level in the current cycle. Once the support level breaks, TEDPIX may start a new cycle, revisiting September 2013’s support at 57,000.
This week, the index also fell below its 50-day exponential moving average by 1%, which occurred for the first time in six weeks. It should be considered that TEDPIX’s volatility has plunged by 70% in four weeks, reaching its lowest level in the last two years.
The index’s measure needs to pass 63,000 once again for any uptrend landscape to be validated.
Also, the index of the 30 largest companies by market capitalization, the TSE 30 index, decreased by 0.9% as it closed at 2,635. The TSE 30 index has been in a negative trend since mid-November, losing 2.8% of its value in two weeks.
Tamin Petroleum and Petrochemical Investment Co. was the most influential share among the top 30s this week; its share price closed at 2,185 rials (approximately 6.0 cents), recording a 3.3% drop.
The Average Daily Trade Volume of the market declined by 27% to stand at $30.4 million. The shares with the highest total traded value were Mellat Bank, Middle East Bank and Azarab Industrial Co., with weekly trade volumes of 7.1, 4.4 and 3.4 million dollars respectively. Mellat Bank’s shares closed at 1,939 rials (approximately 5.4 cents), 0.56% lower than the previous week.
Middle East bank’s share price also slipped by 1.6% as it closed at 2,893 rials (approximately 8.0 cents). Likewise, Azarab Industrial Company’s shares recorded a 1.3% decrease as they closed at 3,027 rials (approximately 8.4 cents).
Iran Fara Bourse
Iran Fara Bourse’s all-share index inched down 2.8 points or 0.4% compared to the previous trading week to settle at 690.
According to IFB, more than 611 million securities changed hands in 105,000 transactions valued at over $144.1 million. Weekly trade volume and value filed a 5% and 47% decline compared to the previous weekrespectively, while the number of transactions surged 70%.
Furthermore, IFB’s market cap reached 0.7% to end the week at $22.9 billion. The First Market witnessed the trading of 28 million shares valued at $2.5 million, indicating an 84% and 80% retreat in volume and value respectively compared to the previous trading week. The Second Market, however, performed positively and registered the transaction of 297 million securities valued at more than $26.2 million to record a 31% and 68% rise in volume and value respectively.
The highest trade volume of the week was registered for Monday, as 202.8 million shares changed hands, while Sunday was the most lucrative day for IFB with $66.6 million worth of shares transacted. Autos and auto parts topped the charts with a 49% share of the weekly market trade, followed by banks and credit institutions and oil products with 7%.
Currency Market
Iran’s FX market witnessed increases in both free market and official rates of the US dollar. The official rate of the dollar was announced by the Central Bank of Iran at 30,096 rials, 0.23% higher than last week.
At the same time, the free market dollar rate reached 35,855 rials with a 0.28% increase. However, the official euro-rial rate slipped by 0.2%, quoted at 31,833, while the free market rate of the euro recorded a 0.25% increase, reaching 38,724 rials.
Similarly, the official rate of the British pound sterling has been announced at 45,403 rials, which is 0.04% lower than last week’s price. However, the free market pound-rial rate increased by 0.73% to 55,100.
Housing Market
The Central Bank of Iran released its monthly report on the housing market in Tehran. The report covered the eight months since the start of the current Iranian year (March 21-October 21, 2015). The statistics demonstrate growth in the number of sales by 4.4% since last month and by 6.7% compared to the same period of last year, reaching 12,056.
Moreover, the average price per square meter has declined by 2% compared with the same period of last year, reported at 38.5 million rials (approximately $1,075). According to the report, 55% of the houses sold last month (6,663 units) have been newly constructed buildings (less than 5 years old). Moreover, 57% of the sales in the reported month are houses smaller than 80 square meters, while 47% of the houses sold have been traded for less than 2,200 million rials (approximately $61,300).
Overall, 96,152 houses have been sold during the same period, recording a 16% decline compared with the same period of last year. Likewise, the average price per square meter has slipped by 1%.
Trade Balance
Iran Customs Administration has also released its initial overview of the non-oil trade balance for the first eight months of the current Iranian year.
According to ICA, the total cost of imported goods and services is $27.3 billion, while exports are reported at $29.6 billion. By comparing the data with the same period of the previous year, it becomes evident that total import value has dropped by 21%.
However, the value of exports has only fallen by 10.5%. The main imported items are corn feedstock (3.4%), edible wheat (1.93%), automobiles (1.90%) and soybean (1.89%).
On the other hand, the main exported items from Iran are gas condensates (17%) and petrochemical products (35%). Iran’s main trading partners were China, Iraq, the UAE, India and Afghanistan, while most imported items arrived from China, South Korea, Turkey and Switzerland.
