A flicker of diplomatic progress between Washington and Tehran was enough to nudge Gulf investors back into buying mode on Wednesday morning.
After talks in Geneva, Iran signaled that it and the United States had aligned on broad “guiding principles” to address their long-running nuclear standoff. The tone was cautious, but conciliatory enough to ease the market’s more immediate fear — that diplomacy might collapse into confrontation.
Oil traders, however, kept their enthusiasm in check. Crude prices hovered near flat in Asian trade after a roughly 2% slide in the previous session, reflecting skepticism about how quickly any agreement might materialize — or how decisively it could reshape supply expectations.
Against that backdrop, Saudi Arabia’s benchmark index on the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) rose 0.2%, attempting to halt a three-day losing streak. The lift came in part from a 1.1% climb in Saudi National Bank, the kingdom’s largest lender by assets. Energy heavyweight Saudi Aramco added a modest 0.2%, mirroring the restrained movement in crude prices.
In Dubai, optimism ran stronger. The main index advanced 0.6%, propelled by a 2.5% jump in property giant Emaar Properties and a sharp 3.2% surge in low-cost carrier Air Arabia, as investors rotated into cyclical names.
Abu Dhabi’s benchmark gained 0.3%, while Qatar’s index edged up 0.1%, supported by a 0.5% rise in banking heavyweight Qatar National Bank.
For now, the markets appear to be pricing in possibility rather than certainty — encouraged by dialogue, but still wary of how the final chapter of US–Iran negotiations will be written.
