Market response to crisis: Accusations point towards 'profiteers' in Kerman bombing

Shafaq News / An Iranian report on Thursday indicated a significant toll from the terrorist incident in Kerman, where "beneficiaries" leveraged the media to exploit the incident to increase foreign currency rates and deceive people.

According to Fars News Agency "The killing of 95 individuals and injuring of 284 citizens in yesterday's terrorist attack in Kerman has further exacerbated the pains of the entire Iranian people."

The report highlighted amidst citizens' grief, some businessmen and speculators utilized the bloodshed of the victims of yesterday's terrorist incident for currency fluctuations and speculation. It pointed out that "minutes after the news of the terrorist attack on Kerman residents, certain websites and channels raised exchange rates with specific economic ideologies citing the Kerman bombing and the loss of citizens' lives."

It emphasized that "brokers, unable to manipulate people's lives in recent months, saw the terrorist attack and shedding the blood of fellow countrymen as a good opportunity for profit, despite the trend towards decreasing exchange and gold rates, raising the exchange rate by 500 tomans higher than yesterday's prices."

The report clarified that "all these pressures to increase currency rates occurred while these traders faced a problem of low demand and an inability to execute transactions at the new prices." It noted that activists in the foreign exchange market were aware that brokers were attempting to profit from troubled waters through the available media outlets at their disposal.

For this reason, the currency and metal markets were almost empty of customers yesterday afternoon, with only a few channels raising the exchange rate, according to the report.

Before the terrorist attack, the exchange rate was at 50,100 tomans, but after news of the incident, it rose to 50,600 tomans. The price of the dollar also increased to 50,950 tomans.

According to the report, the story becomes more intriguing when everyone realizes that during yesterday and today, global prices for gold and other metals decreased in global markets, while only prices in the gold, currency, and dollar markets in Iran increased due to the presence of brokers and their specific media outlets.

The report quoted Iranian economic expert, Mohammad Bayat, saying, "Financial markets react to increased political and social risks. Following yesterday's terrorist incident, financial markets seemed to react. However, the sudden increase and growth in prices at a time when there is no demand in the market indicate that some people are trying to raise prices under any pretext."

Bayat emphasized that currency and metal prices primarily decrease due to the decline in the price of gold. This price decline has led to market stagnation for some.

The economic expert concluded that the rise in prices in the currency and metal markets comes without any economic justification. Once the inflation subsides, prices will return to levels targeted by market makers. He advised people to be cautious and avoid getting involved in the game of market fluctuations.