Nothing new on the board since September's RAPI, with the De Beers October sight now days away as the first real test

Prices sit where September's RAPI left them, the 0.50-carat grade up 2.5% and the 1-carat up 0.3% for the month, with no new print, sight result, or tender this morning to reprice inventory. Natural-diamond demand is still the soft part of the picture: September's Indian cut-and-polished exports came in at $1.29 billion, down 5.44% on the year, even as the headline gem and jewelry number grew on gold and lab-grown goods. Whether September's small-stone lead held is the open question, and nothing today moved it either way.

The De Beers October sight runs from October 26 to 30 and is next week's first event that can reset rough expectations, with sightholders watching for any early signal on 2027 allocation and pricing. JA New York Fall (October 25 to 27) and the Dubai Diamond Conference (October 26 and 27) gather the trade in the same stretch, and the October RAPI in early November is the next firm reading that can test that lead. On macro, the rupee's turn we flagged on October 15 is holding below 96 at 94.93 to the dollar, but this week's 0.37% move sits well inside the 1.5% quoting line, so there is nothing new to trade on before the sight.