Crisis Continues in Tehran's Stock Market

Iran Daily:

As indices remained fragile on Saturday, Central Bank of Iran (CBI) governor said he is hopeful that the stock market situation will return to normal, stressing that the capital market will undergo certain changes.

Ebrahim Sheibani told ISNA that following the recent high-profile meeting of senior economic officials to review the main causes of stock market crisis, capital market structures will change in a way that indices will begin to rise soon.

He said that political developments will affect the economic situation, adding that the country has not severed trade ties with Britain and South Korea. READ MORE

The Parliament has stipulated prison terms and stiff cash fines for misuse of insider information at the stock market.

Under the parliamentary ratification, those who trade shares using insider information will be sentenced to prison terms ranging from three months to a year and cash fines amounting to two to five times the amount they have acquired.

The penalties are stipulated in the Stock Market Bill, which was passed by the Parliament last week.

Heidar Mostakhdemin-Hosseini, who chairs the stock market’s Board of Directors, said last week that the parliamentary move will give the troubled stock market a new lease on life.

However it seems that efforts to bring to custody those misusing insider information will ultimately lead to major investors withdrawing their money from the stock market and invest them in safer places with lower risk of prosecution.