Gold rate today, Aug. 28 -- 24 carat gold is Rs.16,297 a gram and 22 carat is Rs.14,939, both down Rs.1 on the day and off their weekly high by Rs.100 and Rs.91 since Monday.

The 22 carat rate crossed back below Rs.15,000 midweek and has not returned. It held above that level for three sessions from Monday through Wednesday, the first such stretch in the gold rate's Indian tracking history, before settling back into the Rs.14,900s as spot gold fell roughly $90 from Tuesday's peak. Whether it returns to Rs.15,000 next week depends on what Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh says at Jackson Hole this morning - not on anything that happened in an Indian bullion market this week.

The week's arithmetic is not complicated. Monday opened at Rs.1...