TSE, IFB Benchmarks End Week Lower

Tehran Stock Exchange’s main index shed 1,190 points or 1.5% during the week that ended March 8 to close at 76,285.

IFX, the over-the-counter Iran Fara Bourse’s benchmark, lost 5 points or 0.6% during the week to 865.

Trading at the two exchanges begins on Saturday and ends on Wednesday.

Over 9.7 billion shares valued at $368.4 million were traded on TSE during the past week. The number of traded shares and weekly trade value grew by 142% and 47% respectively compared to the previous week.

TSE’s First Market Index shed 1,283 points or 2.3% to end at 53,746.

The Second Market Index lost 82 points or 0.05% to close at 164,601.

At IFB, more than 1.4 billion securities valued at $247.3 million were traded in 99,000 transactions. The number of traded shares and weekly trade value shrank by 14% and 22% respectively compared to the previous week.

IFB’s market cap gained $126.3 million or 0.5% to reach $26.56 billion.

Its First Market witnessed the trading of 226 million securities valued at $10.73 million, indicating a 71% and 70% rise in both the number of traded securities and trade value.

About 253 million securities valued at $31.86 million were traded in the Second Market, with the number of traded securities and trade value dropping 65% and 64% respectively week-on-week.

The ‘chemical products’ group of IFB-listed industries had the highest weekly rise in share value (19%). ‘Base metals’ (10%) and ‘food and drinks other than sugar’ (10%) came next.

  Gov’t to Pay “Justice Shares” Dividends

After more than a decade, the government is set to pay each holder of “Justice Shares” their dividends as of the next Iranian year (March 20, 2017), First Vice President Es’haq Jahangiri announced on Tuesday.

The total value of Justice Shares held by more than 49 million Iranians was determined to be about 550 trillion rials ($14.47 billion).

Jahangiri noted that they are set to nearly double to 1 quadrillion rials ($26.31 billion) in the next four months.

The dividends will first be paid to the sixth lowest income deciles from the bottom up in 18 stages.

Economy Minister Ali Tayyebnia said the dividends’ exact figure stands at 5.3 million rials ($139) per share for eligible shareholders and 10 million rials ($263) per share for the two lowest income deciles of the Iranian population.

The Justice Shares drama began in 2005 when the parliament tasked the previous government with privatizing state-owned companies and giving some of the stakes to different strata with the aim of bringing about equitable distribution of wealth.

Another aim pursued by this move was to make stock ownership more common among ordinary citizens, each of whom received shares from a particular state entity.

The government of former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad launched the initiative with much fanfare. Justice Shares were given to the six lowest income deciles of Iranians.

  Startup Financing, Investment Website Launched

A website dedicated to startup projects’ financing and investment was unveiled on Monday by a host of top government officials, including Vice President for Science and Technology Sorena Sattari and the head of Securities and Exchange Organization, Shapour Mohammadi.

“This website is intended to connect investors and startups using an interactive platform,” said Vice Presidency for Science and Technology’s head of planning and management, Alireza Daliri.

According to Daliri, there are currently close to 3,000 startups operating in Iran and permissions for establishing new ones are being issued every day.