Iran International
After an 80-day shutdown, the Tehran Stock Exchange reopened on Tuesday under heavy state controls, with 42 major firms still suspended and reported curbs on large-scale selling amid uncertainty over war damage and corporate losses.
Trading resumed on the Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE) under strict and highly managed conditions, with parts of the market reopening while 42 major, mostly export-oriented companies remained suspended.
The restart marked a procedural return to activity, but within a framework designed to tightly control selling pressure and limit volatility.
Steel and petrochemical companies — traditionally among the most influential drivers of the TEDPIX index — did not reopen. These firms were reportedly damaged during the war, yet authorities have not disclosed the extent of the damage, the duration of production halts, insurance coverage details, financing arrangements or reconstruction timelines.
No revised earnings projections have been made public. The absence of such disclosures leaves investors without the information needed to reassess valuations in a post-conflict environment.
At the same time, sectors that did resume trading were already structurally fragile before the conflict began. The banking system had been operating with capital constraints and persistent balance-sheet weaknesses.
The automobile industry was loss-making prior to the war, and supply chain disruptions have further intensified those pressures. Capital market intermediaries are functioning in an economy experiencing near-triple-digit inflation, eroding real returns and complicating asset pricing.
The real estate sector is also under strain due to disrupted supply chains and heightened uncertainty over future economic conditions.
Beyond the selective reopening of companies, several administrative measures were reportedly implemented to prevent heavy selling. According to market reports and brokerage channels, institutional investors were restricted from large-scale share sales, and caps were reportedly imposed on major shareholders in certain symbols.
Some leveraged funds also faced selling limits, with reported restrictions such as 100,000-unit ceilings for particular funds. Meanwhile, a number of stocks were reopened without price fluctuation limits due to disclosure requirements, creating a segmented trading environment rather than a uniform restart.
These measures suggest that the reopening was structured not only to resume transactions but also to manage the behavior of the index. In Tehran, TEDPIX functions as a visible signal of economic stability.
A sharp selloff after the prolonged closure would have carried political as well as financial implications. Containing immediate downward pressure appears to have been a central consideration in the design of the reopening.
However, limiting supply and constraining sales does not eliminate underlying uncertainty. Without transparent disclosure of corporate damage, reconstruction capacity and forward earnings expectations, the process of price discovery remains incomplete.
Instead of allowing the market to fully reprice assets based on updated information, authorities have slowed the adjustment through administrative intervention.
The Tehran Stock Exchange is now formally open. Yet with key exporters still suspended, significant trading restrictions in place and unresolved questions about corporate losses, the market’s reopening reflects controlled stabilization rather than a clear restoration of investor confidence.
