Iran Market Pulse: Saturday Midday, August 8, 2026; Tehran Bourse Opens the Week With a 2.3% Jump, Tops 5.5 Million Points

Lead

The Tehran Stock Exchange opened the trading week with one of its strongest sessions in recent memory. By around 11:00 a.m. Saturday, 17 Mordad 1405 (August 8, 2026), the TEDPIX main index had gained 126,478 points, or 2.34%, from Wednesday 14 Mordad's last close, clearing the 5.5 million mark to stand at 5,534,379 points (source: the Tehran Stock Exchange's direct feed). The jump extends a week that, according to Donya-e-Eqtesad, closed with roughly 7% growth in the main index and over 13 trillion tomans of retail (حقیقی) money inflows, marking the market's second straight green week this Mordad. On the other side of the ledger, the free-market dollar and domestic gold stayed quiet today, and the day's biggest non-bourse story was the US Treasury's sanctioning of two Iran-linked crypto exchanges.

Today at a Glance

Today's Top Headlines

• The Tehran Stock Exchange closed the week ending Thursday, 15 Mordad, with roughly 7% gains in the main index and fresh records, its second straight green week this Mordad (Donya-e-Eqtesad, Saturday).
• The US Treasury (OFAC) sanctioned two crypto exchanges used by Tehran, Shelbit and Aban Tether, along with a front-company network (US Department of the Treasury, Friday).
• US Central Command (CENTCOM) claimed the number of commercial ships diverted under Iran's naval blockade has reached 51; a claim Sahmino does not independently verify (Ecoiran, citing Mehr and CENTCOM, Saturday).
• China's July exports jumped 23.9% year on year to a fresh high, pushing its trade surplus to $112.5 billion (Donya-e-Eqtesad, citing China Customs and Bloomberg, Saturday).
• Saudi oil exports to the United States fell to zero in July for the first time since 1985 (Bourse News, citing Bloomberg, Saturday).

Currency

The free-market dollar stayed quiet today in the shadow of the bourse rally. Per tgju.org, the US dollar traded at 188,020 tomans, unchanged from the prior trading day, ranging intraday between 186,780 and 188,220 tomans. Alanchand.com separately quoted buy and sell rates of about 185,800 and 187,700 tomans, broadly in line with tgju's figure. On the official side of Iran's multi-rate FX system, the NIMA rate (Iran Currency and Gold Exchange Center transfer) rose 0.15% this afternoon to 154,451 tomans for sale and 153,061 tomans for purchase; the roughly 33,000-toman gap to the free-market rate keeps Iran's multi-tier currency picture unchanged.

Gold and Coin

The physical gold and coin market opened quietly too. Eighteen-karat gold held flat at 18,578,200 tomans per gram, and the Emami coin traded at 185,020,000 tomans. Global spot gold edged up 0.14% to $4,343.43 an ounce, holding near its multi-week high. The support behind that global steadiness traces to central-bank buying: per Reuters, carried by Kitco News, China's central bank extended its gold-buying streak to a 21st straight month in July, lifting reserves to 76.08 million ounces, its largest monthly purchase since October 2023. Separately, per Bloomberg, carried by Arzdigital, Beijing is shifting part of its physical gold reserves from London to Hong Kong to use the city's newly launched physical-settlement infrastructure. The World Gold Council said the world's central banks bought a combined 288.9 tonnes of gold in the second quarter of 2026, the strongest such quarter on record, a trend that has built a firm floor under global gold even though the domestic market showed little visible reaction to it today.

Stocks

The bourse was today's undisputed star. The TEDPIX crossed the 5.5 million mark to reach 5,534,379 points, up 2.34%; the equal-weight index rose 2.43% to 1,571,859 points; and the Iran Fara Bourse index climbed 2.61% to 45,017 points, all as of 11:00 a.m. today, per the Tehran Stock Exchange's direct feed. Main-board trade value in that window reached roughly 13,989 billion tomans across more than 234,000 trades. Bourse News' own most-read headlines today separately cited "an absolute dominance of demand on the trading floor," consistent with the exchange's own figures. The jump directly extends a week that, per Donya-e-Eqtesad, saw the TEDPIX historically clear the 5.4-million mark, 97% of listed symbols close green on Thursday, and a combined retail (حقیقی) inflow of over 13 trillion tomans for the week, including more than 6 trillion tomans in a single day on Wednesday, 14 Mordad. In its report this morning, Donya-e-Eqtesad asked whether the bourse has again become a "safe haven" for capital, particularly as parallel markets such as the dollar and gold have moved with far less volatility, a pattern that repeated in today's session. Whether that trend holds through the rest of the week will depend on sustained retail inflows and steady trade value.

Crypto

Crypto prices were quiet today: Bitcoin edged up 0.02% to $65,009 and Ethereum slipped 0.05% to $1,917. Tether's domestic toman rate fell 0.4% to 186,255 tomans. But the day's biggest crypto story wasn't about price. On Friday, 16 Mordad, the US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned two exchanges used by Tehran, Shelbit and Aban Tether, along with Siavash Kayvanpour, described as the ringleader of a front-company network. Per the Treasury's official statement, digital-currency addresses belonging to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps sent over $1 million in crypto to Shelbit addresses, while more than $2 million flowed the other way; Aban Tether, meanwhile, processed millions of dollars in transactions tied to sanctioned Iranian exchanges including Nobitex, Wallex, Bitpin and Ramzinex. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the department would "hunt down and dismantle" illicit financial networks supporting the regime, "whether in dollars, rials, or crypto." The move adds fresh pressure on informal tether liquidity channels in Iran, though it has yet to show a visible mark on the live tether rate.

Steel

The steel market was relatively quiet today; 10mm Aryan Steel A3 rebar, ex-factory, held at 74,090 tomans with no notable change from recent days. On the Iran Mercantile Exchange, per Kalakhabar, today's first trading day of the week saw 412,466 tons offered across trading halls, with the industrial hall accounting for a sizeable share at 128,432 tons of steel sections plus 90 tons of copper wire and rod. On a broader scale, the commodity exchange's physical market traded 2,949,000 tons worth 109,900 billion tomans in the week ending 16 Mordad (Kalakhabar, Friday), underscoring steady steel and building-material supply flow through the exchange.

Cars

The car market held steady amid the excitement in stocks and geopolitics. Saipa's Pride 151 GX was priced around 1.15 billion tomans today, close to recent levels. As of this report, no fresh pricing policy news had emerged from the Competition Council or the Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade.

Building Materials

Tehran Type 2 cement priced at 291,000 tomans for a 50kg bag and 3,937,000 tomans in bulk today, flat from recent days. On the commodity exchange, the Kish export hall hosted an offering of 172,817 tons of cement and 50,000 tons of clinker today (Kalakhabar, Saturday), continuing a pattern that last week included a sharp jump in Tehran cement's free-market price.

Regional and Global Outlook

Brent crude jumped 1.82% today to $83.55, as Citigroup, per Oilprice.com, raised its third-quarter 2026 Brent forecast to $80 while still seeing a possible drop to $65 by 2027, a swing that directly affects the value of Iran's crude exports and the earnings of Tehran bourse's petrochemical and refining names. In a notable energy-market shift, Saudi oil exports to the United States fell to zero in July for the first time since 1985, per Bloomberg, carried by Bourse News, a sign of realigning global crude trade routes. In the Strait of Hormuz, ADNOC said Friday that 15 of its ships have been struck since the war Iranian media call the "Ramadan war" began, three of them in the past week alone, as CENTCOM separately claimed the number of diverted commercial vessels has climbed to 51; a risk that, despite talks between Iran and Oman reportedly nearing a final agreement, continues to keep shipping insurance and freight costs elevated for Iranian trade. In East Asia, China's July exports jumped 23.9% year on year to a fresh high, with the trade surplus reaching $112.5 billion, per China Customs data carried by Bloomberg; as Iran's largest oil buyer, the strength of China's trade engine could support informal demand for Iranian crude and petrochemicals in the months ahead.

Takeaway

Today belonged to the bourse, not the dollar or gold. While stocks logged a roughly 2.3% jump for a fifth straight session and cleared the 5.5-million mark, the free-market dollar and domestic gold sat at the same levels as the day before. More telling than today's number is whether last week's pattern, over 13 trillion tomans of retail inflows, repeats itself; if it does, that would be a stronger signal that confidence is returning to the bourse. One thing to remember: when the bourse and the parallel markets aren't moving together, the real direction of money is better read in trade value and retail inflows than in the index number alone.

What to Watch Today

• The rest of today's session through 12:30 p.m.: does the 2.34% gain hold into the close, or does the market give some of it back?
• Today's 412,466-ton commodity exchange offering across the export, industrial and petrochemical halls, and its effect on steel and cement prices.
• The 16.34% block offering of Noosh Mazandaran shares on the Tehran Stock Exchange calendar, Sunday, 25 Mordad.
• Progress in Iran-Oman talks over the Strait of Hormuz, and any currency-market or shipping-insurance reaction to fresh developments.
• The domestic crypto market's reaction, tether's rate in particular, to the fresh US sanctions on the Shelbit and Aban Tether exchanges.