Market News

– A banking official stated that charging higher fees on banking services (mostly transactions of POS, etc.) can lead to lowering interest rates on granted facilities; in fact, he said that in case this process continues for 3 years, the interest rate might come down to 14% and the rate on facilities would also reduce to below 10% in Iranian banking sector. The current imbalanced situation for on-account risk free deposit rate (20%) and banking facilities (around 28%) led most banks to their incompetence.

– The Head of Tehran Chamber of Commerce announced the major and serious challenges with which Iran is encountered, i.e. the government’s annual budget, the banking system and foreign exchange market, whose removal will provide a safe way through the current situation due to US pullout from the JCPoA. In this regard, many experts assume that the return of sanctions on Iran’s oil sales can push the government to be less reliant on oil revenues, which will lead to more tax income in a fair manner; they also propose that in addition to resorting to an organized scheme/schedule to improve non-oil export, the government must also employ a part of the newly achieved resources (out of the rise in forex rates) to accelerate the banking system reform, which eventually might pave grounds for lowering the interest rate.

– According to official news, the state-owned oil refining company of Chilly, i.e. ENAP, has purchased 140,000 tons of Iranian crude after the US decision to set sanctions back in place. This is the first time in the past 18 months that Chilly imports oil from Iran, which can be expected to cover any probable export losses due to sanctions snap back.

In the Market

Equities ticked higher on today’ session, locking in big gains for the week start, as a positive performance from all major sectors outweighed JCPoA negative impulse. The TEDPIX and the IFEX added 0.21% and 0.39%, respectively while the trading volume and value reached new highs after rounds of previous depressions in the market.

With global oil price exceeding $76 per barrel, the Oil Products space settled with slim gains. Similar sentiment dominated the Chemicals industry as well.

The Metals industry saw positive trades with a few symbols like Khorasan Steel and Sepahan Industrial Group closing with buy queues.

The majority of names on the Sugar group managed to hit their highs.

Likewise, a great number of symbols in the Construction industry hit their ceilings; a rather similar momentum dominated the Cement group.

Automotive space also went through balanced to positive trades. Bahman Diesel, Tolid Mehvar Khodro and Irka Part San’at were today’s top gainers.

Among the Banking sector tickers, Bank Saderat and Bank Tejarat were traded in a balanced manner, being institutionally supported; Bank Gardeshgari (Tourism) hit its bottom.

Source:

2018, Interest rate can come as low as 14% in Iranian banking sector!, Saturday,May 12, p.1,<https://agahgroup.com>