Iran’s stock market and investment opportunities

The stock market, numbers and figures, traders, flashing screens with numbers that are updated by the minute; every flicker means billions of dollars, francs, yuans and rials moving from one account to another.

The capital market or bourse is not just a place to strike it rich in. Rather, it’s a place where the different industries can secure their financial resources. The Iranian stock market was established for the same purpose.

It’s a small market with a bright future. Iran’s economy is usually described by economists as “dependent on oil”, “government-run” or “closed.” In other words, it’s largely government-run and partly privatized.

But privatization in Iran is not new; it began in the late 1980s and a number of giant companies and factories have already been handed over to the private sector. There’s even an organization for it, known as Iran’s Privatization Organization, IPO.

The Tehran Stock Exchange, TSE, was established in 1967. At the moment, more than 700 companies with a combined market capitalization of more than 170 billion dollars have been listed on the TSE. It is considered one of the world's best performing stock exchanges in the past decade.

Despite declining in the past two years, its overall index is going up with 78,000 units at present. You don’t need to have a huge sum in order to get your foot in the door at the stock market. All you have to do is register your name and find yourself a broker.

All investors and that includes you are required by law to have a broker. Before the nuclear agreement, the Tehran Stock Exchange had been in free-fall but soon after, that trend was reversed. On the JCOPA’s implementation day on January 16, the TSE’s overall index hovered at 63,516 units.

Less than a month later, it’s already surpassed the 75,000 mark; recording a 19 percent rise. At the moment that figure is more than 80 thousand. Presently, 330 individuals and 30 corporations have invested in Iran’s stock market.

The moment positive signs came out of successful negotiations between Iran and the world powers, foreign investment started moving toward the Iranian bourse. Since then, 121 investors from 21 countries, including Britain, Russia, Germany, Switzerland, China, India, Turkey, and Norway have come to Iran.

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