18-Karat Gold Hits a Third Straight Record, Tops 21 Million Tomans; Iran Market Pulse, Midday Sunday, Sept 1 Shahrivar 1405, TEDPIX Nears 6.1 Million Points

Lead

Eighteen-karat gold in Tehran reached 21,469,200 tomans a gram today, Sunday, 1 Shahrivar 1405 (August 23, 2026); according to the Tehran Gold and Jewelry Union, as reported by Ecoiran this morning, this marks a third straight day of gains for gold and coins in the domestic market, up about 4.7 percent from Saturday's 11:29 a.m. rate of 20,512,000 tomans (per Sahmino's own price data). At the same time, the Tehran Stock Exchange's main index (TEDPIX) reached 6,099,092 points in today's trading, and the toman price of Tether rose nearly 1.3 percent; against this backdrop, the market is awaiting details of a fresh US sanctions package that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says will be unveiled tomorrow, Monday.

Today's Snapshot

Today's Top Headlines

• Year-on-year inflation in the agricultural producer price index hit a record 126.1 percent in spring 1405 (the quarter ended June 21, 2026); the grains subcategory posted the sharpest rise at 183.9 percent (Ecoiran, Sunday, Aug 23).
• Iran's Central Bank announced that $7.5 billion in oil-sale revenue was deposited into its account, a day after Central Bank governor Hemmati said part of the country's oil revenue had stopped flowing and much of its foreign reserves were inaccessible (Ecoiran, Saturday, Aug 22).
• Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, warned that if neighboring states side with US economic pressure on Iran, their interests and oil-export routes through the Persian Gulf would become targets (Ecoiran, Sunday, Aug 23).
• Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced dollar-for-dollar retaliatory tariffs on US steel, dairy and electronics effective September 8, after talks between the two countries broke down (Al Jazeera, Sunday, Aug 23).
• The Tehran Stock Exchange's equal-weight index rose for a 22nd consecutive session yesterday, with about 2.6 trillion tomans of fresh retail money entering the market; Saipa, Iran Khodro and Bank Mellat each touched multi-month or one-year highs (Donya-e-Eqtesad, Saturday, Aug 22).

Currency

The free-market dollar rate on Sahmino's own price board is unchanged from last evening (Aug 22, 19:59) at 192,700 tomans. But a live quote from an online exchange desk at 11:05 a.m. today shows a higher figure: Alanchand listed the dollar's sell rate at 198,500 tomans and buy rate at 196,500 tomans, about 3 percent above Sahmino's tracked rate. That gap should be read with caution, since free-market sources sometimes update with a lag or a few percentage points apart from one another, though its direction matches the official agreed rate. The US dollar price at the Iran Exchange Center (the official agreed/"tavafoghi" rate) reached 156,972 tomans (sell) at 08:01 this morning, about 0.15 percent above the prior day; the UAE dirham rose by the same margin in that same official channel. Tether's toman price, which typically reacts to market pressure before the official dollar rate does, jumped 1.33 percent to 194,995 tomans at 10:59 this morning, a sign that part of the currency market is pricing in today's pressure ahead of the official free-market rate. Against this backdrop, the Central Bank announced yesterday that $7.5 billion in oil revenue was deposited into its account, alongside Mohsen Rezaei's warning to Iran's neighbors over oil-export routes.

Gold and Coin

Tehran's gold and coin market rose for a third consecutive day today. Eighteen-karat gold reached 21,469,200 tomans a gram and 24-karat gold 28,622,000 tomans, according to the Tehran Gold and Jewelry Union as reported by Ecoiran this morning. The three-day rise in 18-karat gold, measured against Sahmino's own tracked rate of 20,512,000 tomans at 11:29 a.m. Saturday, comes to about 4.7 percent; that is despite global spot gold easing slightly today to $4,603 an ounce, meaning the domestic gain is being driven mainly by the dollar and domestic risk rather than the global gold price. In the coin market, the new-design coin reached 209,500,000 tomans, the old design 206,000,000 tomans, the half coin 106,500,000 tomans, the quarter coin 56,500,000 tomans and the gram coin 30,000,000 tomans; every item was higher than yesterday (see live gold prices). A returns review Ecoiran published yesterday (Aug 22) shows that over the past year, melted gold delivered Iran's highest investment return at 172 percent, followed by the Tehran Stock Exchange at 145 percent and the Emami coin at 141 percent; but since the start of the Iranian year 1405, the picture has flipped, with the stock exchange's 62 percent return pulling well ahead of gold and coin.

Stocks and Farabourse

TEDPIX, which jumped 1.83 percent (108,861 points) yesterday, Saturday, to close at 6,061,547, crossing the 6-million mark for the first time in its history, has climbed further today, reaching 6,099,092 points as of 10:59 a.m., up 0.62 percent from yesterday's close. The equal-weight index, which rose for a 22nd consecutive session yesterday, is also up today, gaining 21,158 points to reach 1,738,818. Trade value on the exchange has reached more than 249,000 billion rials (nearly 25,000 billion tomans) so far today, while yesterday's full session saw 348,000 billion rials in turnover, of which, per Donya-e-Eqtesad, about 2.6 trillion tomans (26,000 billion rials) was fresh retail money. Among individual names, Saipa (خساپا) hit its highest price in a year yesterday on its seventh consecutive up session, opening 2.88 percent higher; Iran Khodro (خودرو) reached its highest close since December 28, 2025 on a fifth straight up session, with its 20-day moving average crossing above its 50-day average on August 16; Bank Mellat (وبملت) touched a one-year high; and Mobarakeh Steel (فولاد) opened 2.97 percent higher for a fifth consecutive up session. On the other side of the board, Isfahan Oil Refining (شپنا) is trading at today's price floor. Farabourse, which runs its own separate index from the Tehran Stock Exchange, rose 1.79 percent (855 points) yesterday to 48,708, and is up a further 981 points to 49,186 as of 10:59 a.m. today, with turnover so far reaching 168,000 billion rials. In Farabourse's base market, with its wider price bands and thinner liquidity, nothing reportable enough to signal a market-wide trend was recorded today.

One sector where this year's cost pressure is visible in a listed company's books is Kurosh Food Industries (غکورش), active in food and protein products; its financial statement for the three months ended June 21, 2026 (filed with Codal on July 21) shows revenue up 441 percent and net profit up 545 percent year on year, with a 70.5 percent return on equity and a price-to-earnings ratio near 6.9 as of last night, Sept 1 Shahrivar. That growth coincides with a report from the Ministry of Agriculture Jihad on a 25 percent drop in chicken meat production (from 230,000 tonnes in Khordad 1404 to 174,000 tonnes in Khordad 1405), amid the removal of the preferential exchange rate for feed inputs, per Fars News as carried by Donya-e-Eqtesad on Thursday, Aug 20; it illustrates how cost pressure across the protein supply chain has fed through to listed food companies' profits, even as the agriculture minister said the same week that Iran has become "permanently free of chicken meat imports" and has moved into an export phase, with no shortage seen in the domestic market.

Crypto

Bitcoin fell 1.41 percent to $76,273 as of 10:58 a.m. today, and Ethereum fell 1.97 percent to $2,393; both assets are pulling back from last week's highs. Tether's toman price took a different path, however, jumping 1.33 percent to 194,995 tomans at the same hour; in other words, while global crypto prices retreat, domestic exchanges have pushed the toman price of Tether higher. That divergence follows the same pattern Sahmino's intermarket-analysis lesson describes for how markets react in sequence: domestic demand for currency-risk hedging typically shows up in the crypto market before it reaches the official free-market dollar board.

Steel and Iron

On the Iran Mercantile Exchange, the last cleared settlement price for A3 rebar (14 to 20mm) traded Tuesday, Aug 19 (the category's most recent trading session as of today) was 700,476 rials per kilogram (near 70,048 tomans). In the free market, Aryan Steel's 10mm A3 rebar is offered today, Sunday, Sept 1 Shahrivar, at a factory price of 71,820 tomans per kilogram, about 2.5 percent above the exchange's last cleared price, though the two figures belong to different dates and a direct comparison should be read with that caveat. Mobarakeh Steel's stock (فولاد), as noted above, opened nearly 3 percent higher yesterday for a fifth straight up session, a rally consistent with the simultaneous rise in the dollar and the sector's export-linked revenue.

Cars

Saipa begins lottery-free direct sales of three models, Quick, Arya and Pars Nova, today, Sunday, Sept 1 Shahrivar, a program the company announced last Friday. Saipa's stock (خساپا), in tandem with that news, hit its highest price in a year yesterday and closed in a buy queue, its seventh consecutive up session. Elsewhere in the car market, Bahman Motor began an auction of five products yesterday, Saturday; a Mazda 3 in that auction is priced below the free-market rate, while Bahman Motor's stock (خبهمن) is up about 90 percent over the past year. In the free market, Saipa's Pride 151 carries factory-listed prices today ranging from 1.05 billion to 1.15 billion tomans depending on trim.

Building Materials

On the Iran Mercantile Exchange, bulk Type 2 (42.5) cement settled yesterday, Saturday, at 26,599 rials per kilogram, and bulk Type 5 (42.5) cement at 28,356 rials per kilogram. In Tehran's retail market, a 50-kilogram bag of Type 2 cement from the Abyek and Tehran brands is priced today at 289,000 and 291,000 tomans respectively, and Saveh brand at 260,000 tomans; the notable gap between these retail figures and the exchange's bulk price mostly reflects bagging and retail distribution costs, so a direct comparison between the two is misleading. On the exchange's cement funds, Simana and Simano both eased slightly today (down 0.31 and 0.49 percent respectively), while Farabourse-listed Simania rose 1.04 percent, a limited move that reflects a quiet day for this sub-sector relative to other markets.

Regional and Global

Brent crude is trading near $94.4 a barrel, and WTI settled at $87.06 last Friday; both have risen for a second straight week, driven largely by tension around the Strait of Hormuz and Persian Gulf shipping lanes. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is due to unveil details of what he has called the "toughest sanctions in history" against Iran tomorrow, Monday; per Oilprice.com, citing Reuters, Washington is particularly seeking cooperation from China, which buys more than 80 percent of Iran's seaborne oil. At the same time, Mohsen Rezaei warned Iran's neighboring states today that siding with US pressure would make their interests and Persian Gulf oil-export routes targets for Tehran, a warning that follows the UAE's suspension of all trade and financial ties with Iran last week. Elsewhere, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced today dollar-for-dollar retaliatory tariffs on US steel, dairy and electronics effective September 8, a sign of an escalating tariff war whose channel to Tehran runs mainly through global steel and industrial-goods prices. The dollar traded near 47.94 Turkish lira yesterday and near 6.72 Chinese yuan; neither showed a reportable move relative to recent days.

Bottom Line

Today was a day for gold and political risk, not the official dollar: Sahmino's tracked free-market dollar rate held unchanged, but gold set a record for a third straight day, Tether's toman price jumped nearly 1.3 percent, and the Tehran Stock Exchange stood at the threshold of 6.1 million points. One thing worth remembering: when gold, Tether and the stock index all move up together while the official dollar board sits still, it usually means the informal market has priced in the day's risk ahead of the official figure, and tomorrow's announcement of the US sanctions package could widen or narrow that gap.

What to Watch Today

• Tomorrow, Monday, Sept 2 Shahrivar: details of the "toughest in history" US sanctions package against Iran are due to be announced.
• From tomorrow through next Saturday (Government Week): the first tranche of the fiscal-year-1404 Justice Shares dividend is expected to be deposited to shareholders, per the head of Iran's Chamber of Cooperatives.
• The government's still-unfinalized decision to raise food-coupon (kalabarg) credit by up to 23 percent from Shahrivar could be announced in the coming days.
• Saipa's lottery-free sales program and Bahman Motor's auction continue in the coming days; free-market price reaction to both is worth tracking.
• Employers' extended deadline to pay Tir-month social security premiums expires at midnight tonight.

Track upcoming economic events and shareholder assemblies on Sahmino's economic calendar.