Iran Market Pulse: Friday Midday, July 31, 2026; Gold, Silver, Platinum and Palladium All Turned Red Together

This morning silver was the only green metal on the global board. By midday, it had turned red too. As of 11:00 on Friday, 9 Mordad 1405 (31 July 2026), all four precious metals are down together: spot gold near $4,075, off about 0.9 percent; spot silver near $58, off about 1.8 percent; platinum at $1,628, down 1.6 percent; and palladium at $1,286, down 1.4 percent. This is happening in a month when Brent crude has risen more than 20 percent and the war is still the lead story in every market. The familiar narrative says war means gold. Today's numbers say something else, and the reason sits in Washington rather than Tehran.

Today's snapshot

Global prices are as of 11:00 Tehran time on Friday, 9 Mordad 1405 (31 July 2026). Rial prices for the domestic market refer to the last working day, Thursday 8 Mordad 1405 (30 July 2026), except for silver and traded gold, which were also updated today.

Today's headlines

• According to the Federal Reserve, the US central bank held its policy rate in the 3.50 to 3.75 percent range for a fifth consecutive meeting on 7 Mordad 1405 (29 July 2026), but three committee members dissented, preferring a 25 basis point increase.
• According to Trading Economics (31 July 2026), markets are currently pricing roughly a 63 percent chance of a rate hike at the September meeting. That expectation is what has kept a lid on gold and silver.
• According to OilPrice (31 July 2026), the Caspian Pipeline Consortium shut down again after a fresh drone attack on tankers at Russia's Novorossiysk port. The line is Kazakhstan's main crude export route.
• According to OilPrice (30 July 2026), Saudi Arabia's quarterly budget deficit shrank by nearly three quarters in the second quarter. The same war that hit the kingdom's oil industry lifted its oil revenue.
• According to OilPrice (30 July 2026), the oil price shock has driven global electric vehicle sales up 35 percent.
• The Bank of England also held its policy rate at 3.75 percent on 8 Mordad, but the number of members voting to hike rose to three. Read the detail in the Sahmino newsroom.

Gold and coin: the day all four metals fell together

As of 11:00 midday on Friday, 9 Mordad 1405 (31 July 2026), spot gold trades near $4,075. Three independent sources confirm the level: Sahmino's live feed at $4,075.35, TGJU at $4,075 and Trading Economics at $4,074.42. The daily decline across those three is recorded between 0.7 and 0.9 percent. Spot silver is near $58.2, with the same three sources reporting a fall between 1.4 and 1.8 percent.

The point today is not the direction but the simultaneity. This morning silver was up about 1.2 percent and was the only green metal on the board, and we recorded exactly that gold and silver divergence in this morning's edition. By midday, silver had not only given back its gain but had fallen more than twice as far as gold. Platinum and palladium went the same way. In other words, the entire family of monetary metals moved as one today, and that is usually a sign that the driver is a shared macro variable rather than a story specific to any one metal.

That shared variable is the interest rate. The chain has three links. First, the war has pushed energy prices up and made Brent more than 20 percent more expensive in a month. Second, expensive energy puts pressure on US inflation. In its statement of 7 Mordad (29 July), the Federal Reserve said explicitly that inflation remains elevated relative to the 2 percent goal, partly reflecting supply shocks that have driven price increases in certain sectors including energy. Third, in response, the market is pricing a rate increase rather than a cut. Trading Economics puts the probability of a September hike at about 63 percent, and at the 7 Mordad meeting three committee members already wanted one. Gold pays no cash yield, so the higher the risk free rate goes, the greater the opportunity cost of holding it. Put simply, war creates safe haven demand on one side while tightening monetary policy through the energy and inflation channel on the other. Today the second effect has overpowered the first.

A historical anchor makes the scale clear. Based on Trading Economics historical series, spot gold's all time high was $5,608.35 in January 2026 and silver's was $121.64 in the same month. That means gold today trades roughly 27 percent below its January peak and silver roughly 52 percent below, in the middle of a war. The monthly picture is not uniform, though: gold closes July up about 1 percent, its first monthly gain in five months, while silver, after a fall of more than 20 percent in June, ends the month broadly flat at about 1.5 percent lower. That distinction matters: today's decline is a daily tick, not the end of gold's monthly trend.

In the domestic market, the board is largely frozen. 18 karat gold at 18,665,400 toman, mesghal at 80,849,000 toman, cash melted gold at 80,875,000 toman and the Emami coin at 188,010,000 toman all show the same figures as Thursday 8 Mordad, with a zero daily change today. The Emami coin premium is also unchanged at 3,278,000 toman. But two domestic quotes really did move today, and both are red: 999 silver per gram fell 1.66 percent to 379,250 toman as of 10:08 today, and 925 silver fell 1.57 percent to 350,802 toman. Traded 18 karat gold was recorded at 19,767,100 toman as of 10:59, down 0.02 percent. In other words, exactly where Iran's market is still breathing today, it has copied the global direction.

Currency: the only live variable today is the global dollar

On the last working day (Thursday 8 Mordad 1405), the free market dollar closed at an ask of 192,400 toman, down about 1,100 toman (0.57 percent). The Exchange Centre remittance dollar was recorded at an ask of 152,786 toman. The gap between the two is about 39,614 toman, which puts the free rate close to 26 percent above the official one. No new domestic rate will be discovered until the market reopens on Saturday 10 Mordad.

So today's live currency variable is the global side, and the same force pushing gold down shows up here. As of 10:57, the euro traded at $1.1515, down 0.12 percent; the dollar at 160.45 yen, up 0.61 percent; and the dollar at 0.8069 Swiss francs, up 0.24 percent. The dollar is strengthening against the major currencies. A stronger dollar and expectations of higher rates are two sides of one coin, and both press on gold. This is observation rather than forecast, but it explains why today's decline reached the whole metals family instead of a single metal.

Stocks: closed, but with a clear transmission channel for Saturday

The Tehran Stock Exchange is closed on Thursday and Friday, and the last trading session of the week was held on Wednesday 7 Mordad 1405. TEDPIX ended that session at 5,075,099 points, the equal weight index closed up 0.43 percent at 1,432,808 points, and the Iran Fara Bourse index closed up 0.26 percent at 40,968 points.

The point worth following for Saturday 10 Mordad is that today's fall in global metals has a clear route onto the exchange board: gold funds. In that same Wednesday session, the Lotus gold fund closed up 1.44 percent at 131,755 toman and the Jam Gold fund up 1.27 percent at 1,680 toman. The value of these funds is tied to the domestic gold price, and the domestic gold price to the global ounce and the dollar rate. On Saturday the market will price two days of accumulated news at once.

Crypto: red, and moving with the metals

As of 11:00 midday today, bitcoin trades near $64,000, down 1.34 percent, and ether at $1,887, down 1.97 percent. Bitcoin stood at $64,266 this morning, so the downtrend has continued through the day.

Ether falling further than bitcoin is the familiar pattern of a risk reduction day: more volatile assets react more. More importantly, crypto has moved in the same direction as precious metals today rather than against them. Both groups are sensitive to expectations of higher interest rates, and that shared direction strengthens the reading that rates are today's main driver.

Iron and steel: the industrial metal stayed green

No new domestic price was recorded today, and 10 mm Arian Foulad A3 rebar stands at 69,550 toman per kilogram ex works. Globally, steel is down 0.13 percent at 2,987 and iron ore stands at $98.25.

But one number today matters more than the rest of this section: copper, up 0.47 percent at $6.47, is the only green metal on the global board. The difference between copper and the precious metals is exactly what completes today's picture. Copper is an industrial metal whose price is set by real production demand, while gold and silver are largely monetary assets that respond to interest rates. When the monetary metals are red and the industrial metal is green, the "recession is coming" hypothesis weakens and the "policy is getting tighter" hypothesis strengthens.

Cars and building materials

No new prices for cars or building materials were recorded on a holiday. But one global item bears directly on the car market: according to OilPrice (30 July 2026), the oil price shock has lifted global electric vehicle sales by 35 percent. The channel to Tehran is indirect but real, because it shifts global EV pricing and import priorities.

In building materials, the determining variable remains the cost of energy and freight. With oil closing the month more than 20 percent higher, cost pressure on the finished price of cement and materials persists. That pressure usually shows up in retail prices with a lag of several weeks.

Regional and global backdrop

As of 11:00 today, Brent crude trades between $86 and $88 depending on the contract and the source (Trading Economics at $86.14, OilPrice at $88.10, Sahmino's live feed at $86.05), with a daily fall of about 0.8 to 1 percent. Even so, it closes the month more than 20 percent higher. West Texas Intermediate is near $82.5, down about 1.3 percent.

In the Persian Gulf, according to OilPrice (30 July 2026), Saudi Arabia's quarterly budget deficit shrank by nearly three quarters in the second quarter. The same war that lowered the kingdom's oil output raised its revenue and pushed its economy into its steepest contraction since the pandemic. The channel to Tehran is clear: when the region's largest exporter earns more from producing less, the collective incentive to keep prices high strengthens.

In Russia and the Black Sea area, the Caspian Pipeline Consortium halted again today, 31 July, after a fresh drone attack on tankers at Novorossiysk (OilPrice). The line is Kazakhstan's main crude export route, and a second shutdown means supply risk is not off the table. In regional currencies, as of 10:57 the dollar stood at 47.52 Turkish lira, up 0.23 percent, and at 6.7551 Chinese yuan, down 0.17 percent. A stronger yuan means better purchasing power for Iran in its largest trading partner. In Europe, the Bank of England held its rate at 3.75 percent on 8 Mordad, but the number of members voting to hike rose to three, so the hawkish turn is not only American.

The takeaway

Today was the metals' day, but not in the way you would expect. All four precious metals turned red together, while the only green metal on the board was an industrial one. The verdict of the day: in this war, the oil market is the winner and gold is the loser, and the link between the two is the US interest rate rather than the battlefield. If you remember one thing today, make it this: despite the war, gold sits about 27 percent below its January record, because the market is pricing more expensive money rather than cheaper money.

What to watch today and tomorrow

• The market reopening on Saturday 10 Mordad and how gold and coin price two days of global declines.
• The domestic gram silver rate, which was one of the very few live Iranian prices today.
• The next Federal Reserve meeting on 16 September 2026 and how the hike probability shifts before then. See the July meeting record in the Sahmino events calendar.
• The status of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium and how long the new shutdown lasts.
• Gold fund units at Saturday's reopening, as the fastest channel carrying the global price onto the exchange board.