Iranians Withdrawing Capital From Stock Exchange Market

Amid nationwide antigovernment protests, over 36 trillion rials (over $120 million) has been withdrawn from Tehran’s Stock Exchange market only in the past 10 days. 

The amount of capital withdrawal from the stock market and the fall of the total index has been accelerating in the past few weeks as protests and strikes have been intensifying especially after mid-September, when a 22-year-old woman was killed in police custody.

The withdrawn money may seem meager compared with international stock exchanges, but TSE is the most important and biggest Iranian stock exchange market, and considering the currency rate, it amounts to a huge sum in rials. 

TEDPIX, the main index of Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE), lost 69,000 points in the previous Iranian calendar week, which ended on Friday, October 28. 

Since mid-May, the index has been in constant decline due to political uncertainties, with a few small insignificant peaks when the hopes for reviving Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal were high momentarily. 

The future of Iran’s exchange market will depend on political stability, structural reforms and restoring the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), all of which seem improbable as the current wave of protects shows no sign of abating and more and more countries are intensifying their punitive measures against the regime and its officials. 

On October 18, United States’ officials reiterated their support for the ongoing protests in Iran with Special Envoy Robert Malley saying that the talks to revive the nuclear deal are no longer on the agenda.