Tehran Stock Exchange

1- A group of experts were commissioned in 1962 to prepare a plan for the establishment of an Iranian Stock Exchange. After a thorough study on the feasibility of the project, " The Law for the Establishment of the Stock Exchange" was approved in May 1966, and Tehran Stock Exchange commenced its operation in April 1968. The first securities to be traded in the Exchange were the stocks of the then Industrial and Mining Development Bank of Iran (now part of Bank of Industry and Mine).

2- The volume of trade in 1968 were a mere Rls. 15.3 m ( U.S.$ 200,000 ) increasing over years to a peak of Rls. 44,400 m ( U.S.$ 600 m ) in shares of banks, manufacturing companies and bonds in 1978. As the social and political unrest started, the trend began to reverse. After the victory of the Islamic Revolution the trading came to almost a halt. The volume coming down to a level of Rls. 9 m in 1983. The volume started to move up again as efforts were made to reactivate the market and the end of the war between Iran and Iraq in 1988 and the effects of several other political and economic factors, gave a new lease of life to the Stock Exchange, and the number of listed companies which had fallen to about 55 started to rise again and the volume of trade reached a new peak of Rls. 478 bn in 1992 ( it should be born in mind that the rial had lost its value by twenty fold in 1992 as compared to 1978. In other words in real terms the volume had been halved as compared to 1978). However with the onset of recession and falling oil prices the volume of trade also fell reaching Rls. 352 bn in 1993 and increasing to Rls. 550 bn in 1994 ( year ended 20th March 1994) . The volume of trade increased modestly over the years reaching Rls. 3,170bn (U.S.$ 396m) in the year ended 20th March 1999. However since 2002 the market has experienced some dynamism and volume of trade and market capitalization of quoted companies have increased. As of April 2006 there were 432 listed companies on first and secondary markets, and the volume of trade and market capitalization of those companies quoted on Tehran Stock Exchange during the last six years have been as follows: