Abu Dhabi’s index closed down on Friday, extending losses into a seventh session amid tensions between Israel and Iran which could lead to a wider regional conflict, while Commercial Bank of Dubai helped Dubai’s index break its five-day losing streak.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Friday that Iran and its regional allies would not back down, after an Israeli attack on Beirut that is thought to have targeted the heir apparent to Tehran-backed Hezbollah’s slain leader.
Abu Dhabi’s benchmark index slipped 0.4%, pressured by a decline in IHC-owned companies as Conglomerate Alpha Dhabi Holding and investment firm Multiply Group declined 3.5% and 2.6% respectively.
However, UAE’s largest utility firm Abu Dhabi National Energy Company rose 1.8% after the firm raised $1.75 billion from a two-part bond sale with maturities of 7 and 12 years, fixed income news service IFR reported.
Dubai’s main index settled 0.2% higher with top lender Emirates NBD Bank climbing 1.3% and state-run Dubai Electricity And Water Authority hiking 0.8%.
Among the gainers, Commercial Bank of Dubai surged 4.6% after the lender pocketed $500 million from a 5-year bond sale on Thursday.
Gulf bourses end lower on heightened regional tensions
For the week, however, Dubai’s index snapped its seven-week winning streak to record a 2.6% loss, while the Abu Dhabi index declined 3.1% on a weekly basis, according to LSEG data.
Oil prices, a key catalyst for the Gulf’s financial markets, advanced on Friday as investors weighed the prospect of a wider Middle East conflict disrupting crude flows against a well-supplied global market.
Brent crude was up 1.4% to $78.72 a barrel by 1135 GMT.
---------------------------------------- ABU DHABI down 0.4% to 9,180 points DUBAI up 0.2% to 4,406 points ----------------------------------------
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