Abu Dhabi Stocks Edge Down, Dubai Up as Middle East Tensions Flare

MT Newswires · 2d ago
07:39 AM EDT, 10/12/2026 (MT Newswires) -- United Arab Emirates stocks closed the first trading day of the week mixed as fears of a wider Middle East conflict continued to weigh on investor sentiment. At the close of Monday trading, the FTSE ADX General Index lost 0.344%, while the DFM General Index was 0.332% in the green. Escalating tensions in the Middle East took center stage once again after the Houthis launched multiple strikes on King Khalid International Airport in Saudi Arabia over the weekend, resulting in several casualties and injuries. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump stated that the US is evaluating whether to join Saudi Arabia in retaliatory attacks against the Iran-backed group. In other news, Iranian Supreme National Security Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaei stated that the US agreed to some of its seven conditions to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, but called the response "inadequate." "Clearly, in the run-up to the midterm elections, pressure is growing on Trump to address high oil and diesel prices - but in order to see a more meaningful move lower in refined product prices, we will need to see normalisation in the Middle East. Not just in the amount of oil flowing from the Persian Gulf, but also in the way this oil is coming out. Inefficient trade flows of oil from the Middle East have led to a significant surge in tanker freight rates, which will likely keep product prices elevated," ING said. Turning to the region's corporate side, Burjeel Holdings (ADX:BURJEEL) combined its LLH, Lifecare, and Medeor brands into a single platform focused on affordable healthcare and industrial health services in the UAE. The Abu Dhabi-listed healthcare services company closed the session 1.71% lower. Elsewhere, Mashreq Bank (DFM:MASQ) launched a pilot of IBM's enterprise artificial intelligence-powered software engineering platform, IBM Bob, to explore agentic AI to simplify complex integration engineering, boost delivery and improve developer productivity. Mashreq Bank declined 0.31% at closing.