Tehran’s bourse: a broken compass | beyondbrics

For the past few months the Tehran Stock Exchange has looked like a green island surrounded by lava flows. State-run media have boasted of growth unprecedented in the bourse’s 46-year history, as the main index, the Tedpix, has leapt 45 per cent since September, sending the market capitalisation of traded companies to a run of record highs.

On that evidence, you would think the country’s economy was prospering – and not facing unprecedented sanctions and international pressure over its nuclear programme.

From April to September the bourse was gripped by economic stagnation, the consequences of tightening sanctions and the possibility of war with Israel. Trading volume was half what it had been a year earlier.

* username: rupertbu