Tehran stock exchange chief resigns

Tehran stock exchange chief Hossein Abdoh Tabrizi has resigned and a replacement will be chosen on Saturday, the ISNA students news agency said on Thursday.

Abdoh Tabrizi's resignation follows a sharp fall in share prices on the bourse; the exchange's main index has lost more than 20 percent since June.

Deputy Economy and Finance Minister Heydar Mostakhdemin-Hosseini said that Abdoh Tabrizi's resignation was accepted on Tuesday evening.

He said two candidates are being considered but that Mohammad Nahavandian, a former deputy commerce minister, "is the more serious candidate". He did not name the other candidate.

Economic analyst Saeed Leylaz said AbdohTabrizi's resignation was not surprising since President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has removed many from government office since August.

He noted that Ahmadinejad had also recently replaced the heads of all seven of Iran's state-run banks.