Iran Market Pulse, Midday Thursday, Shahrivar 5, 1405; Bourse Closed but TEDPIX Closes Its Best Week at a Record 6.386 Million Points as the Dollar Stays Boxed In by the Central Bank and Global Gold Trades Quietly

1. Lead

The Tehran Stock Exchange is closed today, Thursday, Shahrivar 5, 1405 (August 27, 2026), under its weekly Saturday-to-Wednesday trading calendar, but the capital market's story for the week was already written in Wednesday's final session: TEDPIX, Tehran's main index, jumped 2.61 percent (162,697 points) to a historic record of 6,386,577 points, closing the Saturday-through-Wednesday trading week up nearly 5.4 percent from Saturday's close of 6,061,547. Turnover reached roughly 31 trillion tomans and 93 percent of listed symbols closed higher (Tehran Stock Exchange data; Eco Iran). With the trading floor dark today, the stage belongs to the parallel markets: per Donya-e-Eqtesad, the Central Bank has been pushing the free market dollar rate back below the 200,000 toman threshold through banknote sales since Tuesday, while the global gold ounce traded today in a quiet $4,595 to $4,611 range, little changed from yesterday's close (TGJU; Sahmino's board).

2. Today's Snapshot

3. Today's Top Headlines

• Qatar's Prime Minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, arrived in Tehran today, Thursday, to mediate between Tehran and Washington, even as a White House spokesperson said no talks with Iran are underway or planned (Al Jazeera, Shahrivar 5).
• The Central Bank has been pushing the free market dollar rate back below the 200,000 toman threshold through banknote sales since Tuesday (Donya-e-Eqtesad, Shahrivar 5).
• The US Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge, the PCE price index, held at 3.7 percent year over year in July; its path is central to the Fed's rate decisions and, through them, to the dollar and global gold (US Bureau of Economic Analysis, Shahrivar 4).
• China's imports of Iranian oil have nearly halved since the war, averaging about 534,000 barrels a day in July and August, 48 percent below pre-war levels (Kpler, via The National, August 26).
• The crypto Fear and Greed Index hit "extreme greed" (81) for the first time since 2024; US spot bitcoin ETFs logged a seventh straight day of inflows (CoinMarketCap; SoSoValue via Cointelegraph, August 26).

4. Currency

At its last recorded free market quote (Wednesday evening, Sahmino's board), the dollar stood at 200,500 tomans, close to the 201,600 toman rate recorded in the same window by Alanchand. According to Donya-e-Eqtesad, the Central Bank has been intervening with banknote sales since Tuesday, pushing the free market rate back down from above the 200,000 toman threshold, alongside intensifying US sanctions and Trump's comments on economic pressure on Iran. Against that, the official "agreed rate" dollar via the Iran Exchange Center stood today at 158,039 tomans (sell) and 156,616 tomans (buy); the gap between that official rate and the free market rate is now about 42,500 tomans, close to 21 percent. The euro slipped 0.24 percent to 233,420 tomans. Against major global currencies, the dollar moved little: EUR/USD fell 0.02 percent and GBP/USD 0.08 percent, USD/JPY was essentially flat, and the dollar firmed 0.1 percent against the Swiss franc. The Turkish lira (48.13 per dollar) and the Chinese yuan (6.72) showed no notable move today.

5. Gold and Coin

Per TGJU's live data, the global gold ounce traded today in a $4,595 to $4,611 range: it opened at $4,608.75, touched a session high of $4,610.74 by 11:12, and last traded at $4,607.9, down just 0.06 percent from yesterday's close of $4,610.77. Sahmino's own board recorded the ounce at $4,595.1 at 10:59, down 0.34 percent; in other words, unlike recent days, global gold made no significant move today. In the domestic market, the Tehran Gold and Jewelry Union, via Eco Iran, quoted 18-karat gold this morning at 21,626,200 tomans per gram, close to the 21,677,400 toman figure recorded on Sahmino's board Wednesday evening, effectively unchanged. Twenty-four karat gold reached 28,832,000 tomans per gram and the mesghal rate hit 93,680,000 tomans. The new-design Emami coin traded at 214,000,000 tomans and the old design at 213,000,000 tomans; the half coin reached 109,000,000 tomans, the quarter coin 58,700,000 tomans and the one-gram coin about 29,000,000 tomans, all in a range close to the 216,010,000 toman Emami price recorded on Sahmino's board Wednesday evening. The Emami coin's premium over melt value stood at about 1,903,000 tomans on Sahmino's board Wednesday evening. On a day when both global and domestic gold held steady, it was the dollar that moved under direct Central Bank pressure; as Sahmino has explained in a separate educational piece, the global ounce and the coin do not always move in the same direction.

6. Bourse and Farabourse

The Tehran Stock Exchange and Farabourse are both closed today, Thursday, under their Saturday-to-Wednesday trading calendar. In the last session, Wednesday, Shahrivar 4, TEDPIX gained 162,697 points (2.61 percent) to a historic record of 6,386,577 points; the equal-weight index rose 2.13 percent to 1,802,773 points. Turnover reached about 31 trillion tomans, with real (retail) investors bringing in roughly 4.8 trillion tomans of fresh money per Eco Iran, and 93 percent of symbols closed higher. The rally was broad, with names such as Vabmellat, Fameli, Foolad, Khodro and Shepna trading near their daily band ceilings. The Farabourse index, a separate exchange with its own index and trading pattern from the Tehran bourse, rose 1.95 percent Wednesday to 50,679.5 points. Looking across the full trading week (Saturday, Mordad 31, through Wednesday, Shahrivar 4), TEDPIX climbed from 6,061,547 points at Saturday's close to 6,386,577 at Wednesday's close, a gain of about 5.4 percent over five sessions, while the Farabourse index rose from 48,708.4 to 50,679.5, up about 4 percent; both markets set fresh records on multiple sessions during the stretch.

7. Crypto

Bitcoin rose 1.08 percent to $78,777 and Ethereum gained 1.87 percent to $2,489.5 by 10:59 today. CoinMarketCap's Fear and Greed Index reached 81 yesterday, its first entry into "extreme greed" territory since 2024; per Arzdigital, citing SoSoValue, US spot bitcoin ETFs logged a seventh consecutive day of inflows, bringing August's total to $3.03 billion. Tether against the toman rose 0.15 percent to 199,601 tomans. Goldman Sachs yesterday raised its Coinbase price target from $173 to $196 and turned bullish on Robinhood; the Solana network set a monthly record of 4.2 billion transactions in July.

8. Steel and Iron

Factory-gate prices were quiet today, largely unchanged from yesterday: Aryan Steel's size-10 A3 rebar was quoted around 75,450 tomans and size-14 around 74,090 tomans. On the Iran Mercantile Exchange, Wednesday's settlement for A3 rebar (size 14-20) was 743,837 rials per kilogram and size 22-32 was 762,031 rials per kilogram; per Kala Khabar, the exchange's industrial hall traded 76,593 tons of steel products yesterday. Shanghai rebar, the global benchmark, edged up 0.13 percent to 3,084 yuan per ton today. Domestic demand remains shaped by the exchange rate and energy access for smelting furnaces.

9. Vehicles

The domestic car market showed no notable movement today; the new-design Pride 151 GX was quoted around 1,180,000,000 tomans and the 1404 model around 1,130,000,000 tomans. With official pricing bodies (the Competition Council) also off today and trading quiet, no specific factory-pricing policy news was recorded for this report; the market-to-factory price margin remains largely a function of the free market dollar's swings.

10. Building Materials

On the Iran Mercantile Exchange, Wednesday's settlement for Type 2 (42.5) bulk cement was 26,968 rials per kilogram and the 50kg bag was 38,845 rials per kilogram; Type 5 (42.5) bulk settled at 28,387 rials per kilogram. In retail, a 50kg bag of Type 2 cement from Abyek ran about 289,000 tomans and from Tehran Cement about 291,000 tomans, still a notable gap above the exchange rate. Per Kala Khabar, the exchange traded 32,900 tons of cement and 10,000 tons of clinker in its export hall yesterday, plus 8,045 tons of cement in its dedicated cement hall; listed cement funds (Sima, Simf, Dryf) gained between 0.55 and 1.53 percent yesterday, in line with the broader market rally.

11. Regional and Global Outlook

In the US, major indices eased slightly Wednesday: the Nasdaq fell 0.08 percent, the S&P 500 0.02 percent and the Dow Jones 0.21 percent, even as blowout earnings from Salesforce, CrowdStrike and Okta sent their shares up as much as 18 percent after hours, and Nvidia posted quarterly revenue of $96.2 billion (up 106 percent year over year) while raising its outlook for the next quarter. In Europe, the STOXX 600 fell 0.24 percent today while the EuroStoxx 50 gained about 0.04 percent. Brent crude eased 0.27 percent to $86.71. The week's most significant regional development for Iran was the near-halving of China's imports of Iranian oil, averaging about 534,000 barrels a day in July and August; per Kpler data reported by The National and The Guardian, that is 48 percent below pre-war levels and has pushed China's independent "teapot" refiners toward costlier alternative routes such as the Suez Canal. The Turkish lira (48.13 per dollar) and the Chinese yuan (6.72) showed no significant move today. In the US, the PCE inflation gauge, the Fed's preferred measure, held at 3.7 percent year over year in July, against the backdrop of an ongoing legal fight between the Trump administration and Fed Governor Lisa Cook over her removal; the path of Fed rates remains one of the key variables for the dollar index and global gold in the weeks ahead.

12. Wrap-up

Today was a day for looking back and closing the book on the week, not for trading stocks: TEDPIX closed the week at a historic record, up nearly 5.4 percent. On the week's first off day, both global and domestic gold held steady, and it was the dollar that became the parallel markets' real story, as the Central Bank pushed the free market rate back below the 200,000 toman threshold through banknote sales. The one thing to remember: today was not a day for stocks, it was a day for currency policy; the bourse carried the week's record home, while the dollar stayed under the Central Bank's direct watch.

13. What to Watch Today

• Saturday, Shahrivar 7: the Tehran Stock Exchange reopens after a record-setting week; the key question is whether the rally's momentum continues or gives way to a correction.
• Whether the Central Bank continues or halts its banknote sales, and their effect on the free market dollar's position around the 200,000 toman threshold.
• The outcome of Qatar's Prime Minister's visit to Tehran, and any sign of reduced tension or continuation of the naval blockade the White House has announced.
• Progress toward finalizing Taban Farda's large IPO on the Tehran Stock Exchange in the days ahead.
• The ongoing legal fight between the Trump administration and Fed Governor Lisa Cook, a variable that could affect the path of interest rates and global gold.

For live prices on the dollar, gold and other assets, visit Sahmino's dollar price page and global gold ounce page; for a full rundown of the index's recent rally, see yesterday's Market Pulse. For the week's economic calendar, follow Sahmino's market calendar.