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Emirati Equities End Week Upbeat; Dubai's Aman Soars on Return to Q1 Profit

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Shares in the United Arab Emirates closed Friday's trading session on a positive note, shrugging off volatile oil prices and continued uncertainty surrounding a peace deal between the US and Iran.

At the close of trading, the FTSE ADX General Index was up 0.304%, while the DFM General Index gained 0.862%.

Dampening sentiment is Hezbollah's rejection of the US-brokered ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel on Thursday and its demands for a complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from the region. The ceasefire is Iran's essential condition for any peace agreement with the US.

"While there are few signs of progress in US-Iran talks, the oil market continues to trade on expectations of an imminent deal that would resume flows through the Strait of Hormuz. This seems overly optimistic as Hezbollah rejects the Lebanon-Israel ceasefire. This development will not help US-Iran negotiations," ING analysts wrote.

Oil prices edged down, reversing three consecutive gains despite the latest regional developments, with Brent crude oil futures trading at nearly $94.99 per barrel at 3:02 pm UAE time, down 0.04% from the previous day.

On the corporate front, shares of Alef Education (ADX:ALEFEDT) closed 1.02% higher after it finalized a two-year initiative to migrate its digital learning ecosystem to Microsoft Azure.

Dubai Islamic Insurance & Reinsurance (DFM:AMAN), d/b/a Aman, reported a return to profit in the first quarter. Shares of the insurance company were 8.36% in the green at the time of closing.

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