Market News

– Following the administration’s corrective tax policies and according to the head of Majlis Economic Commission, the Value Added Tax bill will go through infrastructural reforms until the end of spring, based on which, the producers are no longer subjected to pay VAT. This caused the 90% of production sector difficulties over the recent years mostly because of weak enforcement. Moreover, the reform agenda also suggests a 5% cut in Iranian companies’ corporate tax from 25% to 20% which seems to be pre-consented by the government itself.

– Referring to the continuance of its efforts to unify the foreign exchange rates along with limiting the use of official USD/IRR rate, the governor of the Central Bank of Iran announced that they are focused on improving its international banking relations and activities as well as attracting foreign investment; this goal is to be achieved through reducing risks, improving business environment and promoting transparency. Furthermore, the CBI put the country’s inflation rate at the end of Esfand month (Feb-Mar, 2018) at 9.6%, while it had announced the rate for the previous month at 9.9%; Iran’s economy had experienced a 9.1% inflation rate in the previous year ended March 2017. Based on the CBI statistics, this is the second consecutive year with a single digit inflation rate.

In the Market

Iranian equities registered rather mild gains on today’s session. The TEDPIX raised 147.25 points, or 0.15%, 97,086.17, hiking to its highest level since mid-November while IFEX jumped 0.56% and stood well above 1,100 level.

Following China reducing its iron ore production and export because of increasing environmental threats among other factors, the Metals and Iron Oregroups saw a rise in demand. Iran Manganese Mines ticker, listed on the latter, returned to the market 5% higher at IRR 7,967. Besides, in the first 2 months of 2018, 4.46 mn tons of steel have been produced in the country, posting a nearly 50% rise compared to the similar period last year.

In tandem with oil price drop in global markets, the Oil Products space went through low volume trades settling in the red.

In today’s session, Saipa Diesel ticker attracted much attention right from the start due to the transportation fleet renovation scheme; the continuance of this buy queue dragged other names in the Automotive group into the green.

The Minister of Roads and Urban Development also announced the increase of housing loan to IRR 2,000 mn (cUSD 41 K). A rather balanced atmosphere dominated the Housing space.

Source:

2018, Iran to cut corporate tax by 5%!, Tuesday, April 3, p.1,<https://agahgroup.com>