Dubai stocks post highest rise in more than a decade amid truce with Iran

Dubai's benchmark stock index Dubai Financial Market General Index rose by 8.5% at its April 8 high, demonstrating the largest intraday growth since December 2014, Bloomberg noted. Such dynamics it showed on the background of active purchases by investors of shares of local developers and banks after the U.S. and Iran agreed on a two-week truce in the war in the Middle East, writes Bloomberg.

Stocks in Abu Dhabi also rose, with the ADX General Index adding up to 3.5 percent, its biggest gain since March 2024, the agency noted.

The deal signed by the US and Iran suspends the US-Israeli military campaign against Iran in exchange for Tehran's opening of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. The deal should help restore oil supplies from the Persian Gulf. In trading on April 8, prices for Brent crude oil fell by almost 15% to $92.93 per barrel. American WTI lost in turn almost 17% and costs $93.86.

Dubai's status as a "safe haven" for wealthy people from the Middle East region came into question due to the war that began in late February. Large companies were forced to start evacuating their employees from the emirate, and hotel occupancy dropped from 90% in the high season to about 16% by mid-March. Also because of the war, dozens of business events in Dubai and other Gulf countries were canceled or rescheduled in the last month, Bloomberg wrote in late March. The events industry has become one of the key elements of the economic strategy of Middle Eastern capitals, which before the escalation of the conflict in the region sought to position themselves as global centers of business, finance and tourism.

Dubai's benchmark stock index has lost more than 12% since the end of February, despite rebounding on April 8.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor