Swiss Ambassador Visits Tehran Bourse

Switzerland’s ambassador to Iran paid a visit to Tehran Stock Exchange on Tuesday and rang the opening trading bell.

Markus Leitner and his accompanying delegates were briefed by TSE Managing Director Ali Sahraei, TSE’s website reported.

Sahraei elaborated on the structure and operations of Iran’s capital market, trading outlook and investment procedures.

The Tehran bourse’s CEO also underscored the prospects of foreign investment in Iran’s stock market.

Leitner referred to the stock market as the “heart of the economy”, underlining “the unique performance of TSE in the world”.

“Tehran stock exchange is one of the best performing stock markets worldwide (#TEDPIX up 100% from Jan 2019),” the Swiss Embassy in Tehran later wrote in a Twitter note, ascribing the market growth to the lack of investment alternatives, profitability of companies and inflation-driven growth in asset values.

With regard to TSE’s ties with international bourses, Sahraei said foreign investment in the market is welcome.

“In line with the goal of expanding international cooperation, TSE has signed 12 memorandums of understanding with foreign exchange markets,” he said.

For instance, Securities and Exchange Organization of Iran and Iraqi Securities Commission signed an MoU late July to set up a joint investment fund.

The capital market in Iran has been flourishing over the past year, as many investors left parallel markets and channeled money into the stock market.

According to media reports, the total market capitalization of Iran’s four bourses (Tehran Stock Exchange, Iran Fara Bourse, Iran Mercantile Exchange and Iran Energy Exchange) reached 12,282 trillion rials ($102 billion) by the end of third Iranian month ending June 21–up 106.5% compared with the corresponding period of the last fiscal year (ended March 20, 2019).

The top 30 listed companies account for more than 60% of the stock exchange’s market cap, according to local analysts, including the country’s top exporters of petrochemicals, steel and copper.