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UAE Shares Down as Investors Weigh US-China Talks

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Stock trading in the United Arab Emirates closed lower as investors closely monitored the meeting between the US and China, hoping for signs of de-escalation in the Iran war.

At the close of Thursday trading, the FTSE ADX General Index ended little changed at 0.006% in the red, while the DFM General Index lost 0.413%.

Dominating headlines all over the world are the bilateral talks between US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping. Reuters reported, citing a White House readout, that both leaders agreed on the opening of the Strait of Hormuz and Iran not having a nuclear weapon.

"The market could be pinning too much hope on the US-China talks yielding some positive results on Iran. Some hope that China could exert pressure on Iran to reach a deal with the US, to end the war and lead to a resumption of energy flows through the Strait of Hormuz," ING said.

On the oil front, global supply dropped by an additional 1.8 million barrels per day in April, bringing the total losses since February to 12.8 million barrels per day, the International Energy Agency, or IEA, said in its monthly oil market report published on Wednesday.

"With Hormuz tanker traffic still restricted, cumulative supply losses from Gulf producers already exceed 1 billion barrels with more than 14 mb/d of oil now shut in, an unprecedented supply shock," IEA commented. "While demand may swing back to growth towards the end of the year if a deal to end the war is agreed that allows flows through the Strait of Hormuz to gradually resume from 3Q26, as is assumed in this Report, supply will likely be slower to recover. As a result, the oil market remains in deficit until the final quarter of the year."

Closer to home and on the corporate front, Aldar Properties (ADX:ALDAR) acquired a residential-for-rent community comprising 312 homes in Dubai for 1.1 billion Emirati dirhams. Shares of the real estate closed the session 1.14% lower.

Elsewhere, Dubai-listed investment companies Watania International Holding (DFM:WATANIA) and Ekttitab Holding (DFM:EKTTITAB) gained 0.65% and 0.23%, respectively, despite reporting higher attributable losses for the first quarter.

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