Iranian stock exchange woos Dubai investors

Iran's bourse the Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE) has conducted a roadshow in Dubai to attract foreign investors. The head of TSE argues that planned privatisation and low valuations could create attractive opportunities for foreign investors.

Less than two weeks after the UN Security Council imposed a fourth round of punitive measures on Iran over its nuclear programme, senior executives of the TSE travelled to Dubai in a bid to lure new capital to the market. Analysts say Iran needs foreign funds and expertise to help it modernise and expand its oil industry and other sectors, but that Western firms and others are becoming increasingly reluctant to invest there due to the long-running nuclear row.

Saturday's road show, the first of its kind for the TSE, was planned before the latest sanctions, and like other Iranian officials TSE President Hassan Ghalibaf Asl played down their impact, saying share prices firmed further after the UN vote.

In the 2009-10 Iranian year, which ended in March, the market jumped 57 per cent.