Tehran Stock Exchange's index reached 20,075 on Wednesday as an all-time high
this Iranian calendar year (started March 20, 2010). Its previous record was set
on January 3, 2011, when it hit 19,000.
Tehran's capital market value stood at 954 trillion rials
(some $95 billion), the Mehr News Agency reported.
The TSE is Iran's largest stock exchange. It is a full member of the World
Federation of Exchanges and a founding member of the Federation of Euro-Asian
Stock Exchanges. TSE has been one of the world's best performing stock exchanges
in recent years.
The most important advantage that Iran's capital market has in
comparison with other regional markets is that there are 40 industries directly
involved in it. Industries such as the automotive, telecommunications,
agriculture, petrochemical, mining, steel iron, copper, banking and insurance,
financial mediation and others trade shares at the stock market, which makes it
unique in the Middle East.
The second advantage is that most of the state-owned firms are being privatized
under the general policies of article 44 in the Iranian constitution. Under the
circumstances, people are allowed to buy the shares of newly-privatized firms.
Iran is among the few major economies that has maintained positive economic
growth despite the 2008 global financial crisis
The world's fifth-largest oil exporter hopes to raise $12.5 billion by
privatizing over 500 state firms during the 2010-11 year, and plans to sell all
of its refineries and petrochemicals units, promising potential investors a
solid return from the IPOs.
