TEHRAN, Iran — The sudden and sharp fall in the main index of the Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE) on Jan. 24 came as a real shock to investors. After allowing the resumption of trade in Bank Mellat shares, TEDPIX took a dive of 1,014.40 points, or 1.28%, to land at a three-month low of 78,249.1 points.
The Central Bank of Iran (CBI) had kept Bank Mellat’s ticker symbol suspended since July 17. It argued at the time that the commercial bank had failed to comply with international financial reporting standards and provided misleading reports. The sudden reopening of the bank’s ticker symbol came after Mellat’s executives settled their dispute with the regulator, led by Ali Beikzadeh, head of the office for supervising publishers at the Securities and Exchange Organization (SEO). However, the decision to let the bank resume trading sent Mellat’s shares down 37.5% to 1,200 rials per share on Jan. 24. That was half of its value on July 17.
