Tehran Stock Exchange's CEO Remarks On The Exchange's Recent Performance

Dr. Ghalibaf Asl, the CEO of Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE) had a press conference on Monday 21 October 2013 and provided a summary of TSE’s performance in the past 7 months since the beginning of the Iranian year, started on 21 March 2013.

The excerpts of the conference are as follow:

TSE’s market capitalization is around IRR 360 trillion, which is 110 percent above the value 7 months ago.
During the last year, the Exchange had roughly 2.4 million transactions in the equities market, raised sharply to above 7 million transactions in the 7 months of the current year.
TSE total turnover value in the period was more than IRR 55 trillion from IRR 9.3 trillion at the same period last year. Last year’s total trading value amounted to IRR 25.7 trillion.
On-line trading had 500% increase in value this year and reached IRR 12 trillion.
Four new listings have been so far accomplished this year, 2 of which were IPOs of petrochemical and oil-gas holdings, and 2 others were transferred companies form Iran Farabourse (SMEs exchange). 10 new listings have been planned for the current year.
A corporate governance conference was held in Iran earlier this year, mostly to increase local participants’ awareness, leading to market transparency.
The futures market will be supported by some IT companies to improve its software infrastructure. Currently, futures contracts are traded over 16 TSE’s listed companies, and 5 or 6 more are reviewed to be added to the market.
Due to its complexity, option market’s trading platform is being finalized by TSE Technology Management Company (TSETMC).
TSE has sent ETFs draft regulations to Securities and Exchange Organization for ratification. The instrument was initially launched at Iran Farabourse.
The minimum free float level at TSE’s First market (main and secondary boards) and Second market are respectively 20, 15 and 10 percent. Last year, the average level at TSE was 22 percent, which has been so far raised to 22.35 percent this year. Listed companies strive to improve their position at the Exchange by a set of features, including their free float level.