Iran Market Pulse, Midday Monday, August 17, 2026: TEDPIX Jumps 2.3% Past 5.898 Million as Gold and Coin Retreat

The Lead

Tehran Stock Exchange's main index (TEDPIX) jumped 2.30 percent, or 132,479 points, from yesterday's close as of 11:09 Tehran time today, Monday, 26 Mordad 1405 (August 17, 2026), reaching a fresh record of 5,898,860 points. The equal weighted index also climbed 2.28 percent to 1,665,239 points. The rally is not shared by the parallel market: global gold rose today, but gold and coin prices in Tehran eased, and the Emami coin's premium (the "coin bubble," the gap between the coin's market price and its melt value) kept deflating, while the free market dollar held flat. Today's picture is money rotating into stocks alongside a calm currency and parallel market.

Today's Snapshot

Today's Top Headlines

• The 60 day window under the Islamabad memorandum between Iran and the United States expired today, Monday, August 17, without an extension or a final deal; Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Saturday that no decision had yet been made to resume talks (Al Jazeera, Aug 17).
• Parliament's National Security Committee approved a clause banning transit through the Strait of Hormuz for vessels owned by Israel or carrying cargo bound to or from Israel, part of a bill known as the Martyr Tangsiri law (ISNA via EcoIran, Aug 17).
• Donya-e-Eqtesad reported the Trump administration is weighing new pressure options against Iran, including sanctions on independent Chinese "teapot" refineries and warnings to two larger Chinese banks over secondary sanctions (Aug 17).
• Iran's Currency Exchange Center holds its 153rd gold bullion auction tomorrow, Tuesday, August 18; the registration deadline for applicants runs until midnight tonight (EcoIran, Aug 17).
• The US China inflation gap stemming from the Hormuz oil price shock has reached bond markets: the US 10 year Treasury yield sits near 4.7 percent versus about 1.71 percent for China's comparable bond (Bourse News, Aug 17).

Currency

The free market dollar is trading today around 186,680 tomans; per Sahmino's live data and confirmation from TGJU, the rate is essentially unchanged from last evening (Aug 16) and about 0.59 percent below where it stood a week ago. The "agreed rate" (توافقی) dollar sits in the same range, 186,685 tomans. On the official side, the Currency Exchange Center's remittance sell rate rose this morning to 155,737 tomans, up about 0.2 percent from yesterday, with its buy rate at 154,336 tomans. The gap between the free market dollar and the official exchange center rate remains above 30,000 tomans. Today's calm currency market, against the backdrop of the stock rally, is part of the story of money rotating into equities.

Gold and Coin

Global spot gold rose to $4,398 by 11:00 today, up about 0.52 percent; Tehran's Gold and Jewelry Union separately put this morning's global ounce near $4,391. Domestic prices nonetheless eased today: the mesghal price fell to 82,420,000 tomans, 18 karat gold to 19,026,800 tomans a gram, and 24 karat gold to 25,366,000 tomans a gram (Tehran Gold and Jewelry Union via EcoIran, Aug 17). In the coin market, the Emami coin eased to 188,700,000 tomans and the old design (Bahar Azadi) coin to 186,700,000 tomans; the half coin was priced at 95,800,000 tomans and the quarter coin at 52,000,000 tomans, all down from yesterday. The Emami coin's premium, recorded on Sahmino's feed at 3,332,000 tomans last evening (a drop of nearly 9 percent from the day before), continues to deflate with today's softer coin prices, extending the slide Sahmino reported yesterday. The Currency Exchange Center's 153rd gold bullion auction is scheduled for tomorrow, Tuesday.

Bourse and Farabourse

The Tehran Stock Exchange and Farabourse are two separate exchanges with two separate indices. TEDPIX climbed 132,479 points (2.30 percent) from yesterday's close of 5,766,256 to reach a fresh record of 5,898,860 points as of 11:09 today, extending the record run of recent weeks that, per Bourse News, had already pushed 11 industry indices to record highs last Saturday. The equal weighted index rose 37,175 points (2.28 percent) to 1,665,239, meaning today's gain is not confined to a handful of large caps but spread across the market. Bourse trading value had reached 21,178 billion tomans by that hour. Farabourse's own index rose 983 points (2.10 percent) to 47,699; Farabourse trading value reached 177,826 billion tomans by 11:00, though most of that reflects the exchange's bond and fund market rather than equities. Today's individual versus institutional money flow split will not be final until the session closes; yesterday (Aug 16) retail investors were modest net buyers, adding about 1 billion tomans market wide. A sample of actively traded names today, from Iran Khodro (+2.85%) and Naft Pars (+2.95%) to Sina Cement (+2.3%) and Naft-o-Daryoush (+3%), shows today's gains spanning sectors from automakers to cement and oil.

Crypto

Bitcoin rose 0.71 percent to $63,547 by 11:00 today; ArzDigital reported the global price near $62,900 this morning, a normal gap between two different moments of a 24 hour market. Tether traded against the toman today at 186,144 tomans, about 536 tomans below the free market dollar, a gap that is typical these days. In a separate story, ArzDigital reported that hardware wallet maker SafePal disclosed a security flaw in an order tracking plugin that exposed the personal data of nearly 39,798 users, though the company said no wallet assets or sensitive credentials were exposed.

Iron and Steel

The Iran Mercantile Exchange's latest settlement for A3 rebar (size 14 to 20mm) was 642,027 rials per kilogram, from the August 16 (25 Mordad) session. In the open market, Aryan Steel's 14mm A3 rebar priced today at 69,550 tomans per kilogram (695,500 rials), about 8 percent above the exchange's last settlement, a gap in the usual range between the exchange's official price and factory-gate market prices these days. The FOLD (Mobarakeh Steel) symbol, which reopened after a five month trading halt, moved with the broader market's rally today.

Cars

In the stock market, the IKCO (Iran Khodro) symbol rose 2.85 percent today, among the session's leading gainers. In the new car market, models such as the Peugeot 207 automatic with panoramic roof priced today around 2.65 billion tomans, and its manual version around 1.63 billion tomans. The 400 million toman loan program for replacing worn out vehicles, announced last week, still leaves a wide gap to the cheapest new car on the market.

Building Materials

On the Iran Mercantile Exchange, Type 2 (42.5) bagged cement settled at 39,446 rials per kilogram in the August 16 (25 Mordad) session, equivalent to about 197,000 tomans for a 50kg bag. At Tehran retail, a 50kg bag of Type 2 cement from Tehran Cement priced today at 291,000 tomans and from Abyek Cement at 289,000 tomans, meaning the roughly 45 to 50 percent gap between the exchange settlement and retail bag prices persists. Per Sahmino's earlier reporting, Tehran's cement bag price has held in this same range for a week, and the month's earlier price jump has stalled.

Regional and Global

Brent crude traded down 0.32 percent at $88.2 and WTI down 0.73 percent at $81.8 by 11:00 today; the dollar index (DXY) stood 0.34 percent lower at 99.3, per TradingEconomics' data today. The Turkish lira traded near 47.90 to the dollar today, in the same range as last week's record low. In global bond markets, per Bourse News, the oil price shock from the Strait of Hormuz has had starkly different inflation effects on the world's two largest economies: the US 10 year Treasury yield has held near 4.7 percent, while China's comparable yield, with its consumer inflation at just 1 percent in June, sits around 1.71 percent, a gap that keeps financing costs lower for Chinese government and companies. That gap, transmitted through energy demand and global oil prices, reaches Iran's energy and commodity markets indirectly too.

Takeaway

Today was the bourse's day, not gold's and not the dollar's. TEDPIX posted a broad, sector spanning jump to a fresh record, while the currency market stayed calm and gold and coin prices eased in the same hours. If there is one number to remember from today, it is this: TEDPIX at 5,898,860 points, a record set in a single session with a 2.3 percent gain.

What to Watch Today

Registration for the Currency Exchange Center's 153rd gold bullion auction runs until midnight tonight; the auction itself is tomorrow, Tuesday, August 18. Watch whether today's bourse rally holds through the close of the 12:30 session or gives back some gains in the final hour, and whether the inconclusive expiry of the Islamabad memorandum affects markets' geopolitical risk pricing in the days ahead. For capital market events, see Sahmino's market calendar.