Commodity Stocks Pull Down Tehran Stock Exchange

Most commodity stocks in Tehran went into a tailspin on Tuesday as a government decision to intervene and control  steel prices made the market jittery. 
After sessions of bear market, stocks had rallied a session earlier only to be stopped in the follow-up to the seemingly controversial decision. 
The main index of Tehran Stock Exchange, TEDPIX, lost 24,250 points, or 1.76%, paring all the gains made Monday. The TEDPIX is sensitive to the performance of large cap companies, which include the majority of steel, petrochemical and auto companies plus banks.  
A large-scale sell-off followed after the Industries Minister Minister Alireza Razm-Hosseini said that his ministry wants steel products to be sold at the Iran Mercantile Exchange 30% lower than prices in international markets -- a move expected to hurt earnings of listed steel companies.