TEDPIX Ends Week at 6 1/2-Month High

Shares rose in Tehran Stock Exchange this week, as the rial sank to a 10-month low against the dollar on Wednesday, with the TSE’s main index ending the week at its highest since mid-April.

The TEDPIX had its biggest daily gain since August 3 on Wednesday, rising 0.68% and closing at 79,299.6 points. Shares on TSE have extended their rally to their fifth week with a 1.5% gain, TSE data show.

Higher commodity prices and bullish expectations of half-year corporate earnings drove shares to their record high, the Persian economic daily Donya-e-Eqtesad reported.

However, commodity prices have slumped since Wednesday, which may break the rally next week.

Gains on the Iran Fara Bourse were less pronounced. The over-the-counter market’s benchmark, IFX, rose 0.5% for the week to 828.64 points, IFB data show. Trading volume dipped 85% from Saturday to Wednesday though overall volume was double the prior week. 

While stocks rose, the rial fell against major currencies. The key exchange rate for the rial is against the greenback, which rose to a 10-month high of 36,540 rials after advancing 2% against the Iranian currency during the week, according to rates published by Eranico website.

The euro, on the other hand, remained relatively unchanged and ended the week at 39,921 rials.

The dollar’s swift rise in Tehran’s markets pushed it further away from the central bank’s exchange rate of 31,751 rials per dollar, which is being weakened slowly, bringing the gap between the two rates to 15%. Central bank officials said the multiple-exchange rate regime will be abolished before the end of March, though this is the second time the bank has given a deadline for adopting a more prudent forex regime. The previous deadline was mid-August.

The dollar’s rise sent gold coins higher as well, despite gold’s unchanged price internationally due to falling demand for the safe haven metal. The new Azadi gold coin, known as the Imami, rose a full percentage point or 116,000 rials to 11,091,000 rials per coin.

Physical gold demand slumped by nearly a third in the three months to September, GFMS analysts at Thomson Reuters said on Thursday, as a rally in prices curbed jewelry buying in the key Chinese and Indian markets.

The net surplus in the gold market was at its highest since 2005, as demand for gold-backed exchange-traded funds also weakened, Reuters reported. Prices are expected to stabilize into the yearend, GFMS said, bottoming out at $1,240 an ounce.