Gulf bourses in green as oil prices rise
June 3 (Reuters) - Most stock markets in the Gulf were trading higher early on Tuesday as oil prices ticked up on concerns about supply.
Dubai's main share index (.DFMGI), opens new tab, up 0.40%, was set for a second consecutive session of gains and Abu Dhabi's benchmark index (.FTFADGI), opens new tab was set to snap two consecutive sessions of losses.
A lower than expected supply hike from OPEC+ is boosting oil prices, a catalyst for stock markets in the Gulf. Brent crude futures were up 0.19% to $64.75 a barrel by 0627 GMT.
Adding to supply concerns was a wildfire in the province of Alberta in Canada that has led to a temporary shutdown of certain oil and gas production. According to Reuters calculations, the wildfires have disrupted close to 7% of Canada's oil production.
Real estate financier Amlak Finance (AMLK.DU), opens new tab was the top gainer on the Dubai index, up 14.29%.
First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB.AD), opens new tab, the United Arab Emirates' biggest lender, was up 1.15% in early trade.
In Qatar, the benchmark stock index (.QSI), opens new tab was up 0.61%, helped by a 2.15% rise in Qatar Gas Transport (QGTS.QA), opens new tab and a 1.86% gain in consumer goods conglomerate Industries Qatar (IQCD.QA), opens new tab.
Bucking the trend, Saudi Arabia's benchmark stock index was trading flat in early trade. The 1.30% fall in Tadawul Group (1111.SE), opens new tab was offset by a 2.56% rise in insurance company Buruj Cooperative Insurance (8270.SE), opens new tab.
Geopolitical tensions aided the oil price increase, with Iran poised to reject a U.S. proposal to end a decades-old nuclear dispute. Failure of nuclear talks between the countries could result in continued sanctions in Iran, limiting Iranian supply.
Markets, however, remain cautious as U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping will probably speak this week, days after Trump accused Beijing of violating an agreement to roll back tariffs and trade restrictions.
Nasdaq futures and S&P 500 futures were both down more than 0.3%.
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Sky News
an hour ago
- Sky News
Israel-Iran live: Explosions reported in central Tehran as strikes exchanged; Trump says countries 'will make deal'
Another airline cancels flights to Israel Another airline has cancelled flights in the region, due to the escalating conflict. Etihad Airways has cancelled flights between Abu Dhabi and Tel Aviv until June 22, it has said today. "This remains a developing situation, and some disruption and delays may be expected in the coming days," it said in a statement. It follows a raft of other airlines that have cancelled flights. Israeli airline El Al said it is moving its planes out of Israel in anticipation of Iranian attacks on Ben Gurion airport. Aegean Airlines said it is suspending all flights to and from Tel Aviv. Emirates Airlines said certain flights were cancelled "due to the current situation". Although planes were initially unable to fly over some parts of the Middle East, Syria has joined Jordan and Lebanon in reopening airspace today. Watch: How the Israel-Iran conflict unfolded At least 14 nuclear scientists killed in Israeli attacks - sources According to two sources cited by Reuters news agency in the Gulf, Israel has killed at least 14 nuclear scientists since launching its attack on Iran. These attacks have included car bombs, they added. Israel, which has not signed the global nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT) and is widely believed to possess nuclear weapons, says it aims to stop Iran from developing atomic weapons. The International Atomic Energy Agency declared on Thursday Iran is in breach of NPT obligations. Read more on that in the link below... Trump says Iran-Israel deal will happen 'just like India and Pakistan' Donald Trump has posted on his social media platform, Truth Social. Iran and Israel "should make a deal, and will make a deal", he wrote. "...just like I got India and Pakistan to make," he added. "We will have PEACE, soon, between Israel and Iran! Many calls and meetings now taking place. "I do a lot, and never get credit for anything, but that's OK, the PEOPLE understand. "MAKE THE MIDDLE EAST GREAT AGAIN!" Tehran explosion was reported in area where Iran's air force HQ is located - report We've got a bit more information on the explosions reported in Tehran a short while ago - see our 13.13 post. Tasnim news agency reported one blast happened in the Vali-e-Asr Square area in the centre of the city. Another explosion was heard in the Niroo Havaei neighbourhood, in the east of the city, where the air force headquarters are located. Israelis told they can leave shelters after air raid alerts Following the launch of Iranian missiles towards Israel - see our 14.13 post - the IDF has now cleared residents to leave shelters. "Following the situational assessment, the Home Front Command published that it is now permitted to leave protected spaces in all areas across the country," the military said. The IDF said most of the missiles were intercepted and there have been no reports of fallen projectiles. The country's emergency service, Magen David Adom, said there have been no casualties or injuries following the latest round of air raid sirens. Timeline: How the conflict between Israel and Iran has unfolded The conflict between Israel and Iran was once played out in a series of proxy wars. On Friday morning, it escalated - with blasts in Tehran as Israel carried out a major attack on its nuclear capabilities. Iran quickly retaliated with a wave of missiles. Attacks have been exchanged ever since, with explosions reported in both countries just this afternoon. In the link below, we plot a timeline of how the conflict has unfolded over the past three days... Missiles launched at Israel from Iran - with explosion heard in Tel Aviv Air raid sirens are sounding in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, with Israel's military reporting missiles heading towards the country. Iran's state media says ballistic missiles have been launched at Israel. Reuters news agency reports an explosion has been heard in Tel Aviv. This is the first time Iran has fired missiles during the day. The IDF said: "A short while ago, the IDF identified missiles launched from Iran toward the territory of the State of Israel. "Defensive systems are operating to intercept the threat. Upon receiving an alert, the public is instructed to enter a protected space and remain there until further notice." Iran denies reports it has asked Cyprus to relay messages Earlier, Cyprus's president said Iran had asked them to convey "some messages" to Israel. Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Beghani has denied Tehran has asked any third country to communicate with Israel. Christodoulides has spoken to Benjamin Netanyahu today, as well as the leaders of Egypt, the UAE and Greece, his office said. Iranian president warns response will be 'more severe' Masoud Pezeshkian has warned Iran's reaction will be "more decisive and severe" if Israel continues its attacks. That's according to comments cited by news agency IRNA. He added Iran's military has so far responded "strongly and appropriately". Iran launched at least two waves of missile attacks on Israel overnight, appearing to cause more casualties and damage than the previous night.
Reuters
2 hours ago
- Reuters
Gulf markets tumble as Israel-Iran conflict escalates
June 15 (Reuters) - Stock markets in the Gulf ended lower on Sunday as Israel and Iran exchanged attacks, raising concerns about a potential broader Middle East conflict. Israel said it had targeted Iran's nuclear facilities, ballistic missile factories and military commanders in strikes that started on Friday, in what it warned would be a prolonged operation to prevent Tehran from building an atomic weapon. Iran responded by launching attacks on Israel and calling off Sunday's nuclear talks that the United States said were the only way to halt Israel's bombing. Saudi Arabia's benchmark index (.TASI), opens new tab finished 1% lower as stocks fell across the board, weighed down by a 1.5% fall in Al Rajhi Bank ( opens new tab and a 3.1% decrease in the country's biggest lender Saudi National Bank ( opens new tab. However, oil giant Saudi Aramco ( opens new tab advanced 1.8%. Oil prices jumped on Friday and settled 7% higher as Israel and Iran traded air strikes, feeding investor worries that the combat could widely disrupt oil exports from the Middle East. Israel late on Saturday attacked Iranian energy infrastructure including an offshore installation on the South Pars gas field which Iran shares with Qatar and is the source of most of the gas produced in Iran, stoking fears of potential disruption to the region's energy exports. The Qatari benchmark (.QSI), opens new tab declined 3.2% - its biggest intraday fall since April - with all its constituents in negative territory including the Gulf's biggest lender Qatar National Bank ( opens new tab, which concluded 4.2% lower. Elsewhere, Qatar Gas Transport Nakilat ( opens new tab dropped 3.3%. Among other fallers, Kuwait's bourse (.BKP), opens new tab plummeted 4.6%, with Kuwait Finance House ( opens new tab losing 3.7%. Shares in Jazeera Airways ( opens new tab nosedived 18.4% as airlines avoided the airspace over most of the region. Outside the Gulf, Egypt's blue-chip index (.EGX30), opens new tab sank 4.6%, its biggest fall in about 14 months, dragged down by a 4.3% decline in Commercial International Bank ( opens new tab and a 12.4% plunge in investment bank EFG Holding ( opens new tab.
The Independent
3 hours ago
- The Independent
The UK should protect its allies in the Gulf and Middle East - but Israel isn't one of them
For Britain, Israel is mostly a strategic liability – but a very close ally in stopping Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. Now that Israel is locked in a war with Iran and Britain is rushing to send a handful of RAF jets to the region, that relationship needs careful managing. The UK cannot afford to offer Israel unnecessary help and suffer reputation guilt by association with its campaign in Gaza – there is plenty for the RAF to do aside from that. Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, has said that the aircraft may be used to defend the UK's allies – in other words, shoot down Iranian missiles heading to Tel Aviv. Helping Israel stop the erratic and malevolent Iranian regime from making the A Bomb is smart. Being seen to do so, and protecting Israel against the consequences, is not. Iran has threatened to attack any US ally that defends Israel. The US has already helped shoot down ballistic missiles fired by Tehran in retaliation for the ongoing, and widespread, Israeli attacks on its air defences, missile systems, military leadership and nuclear programme. The US has a vast array of military assets very close to Iran that are vulnerable to attack across the Persian (Arabian) Gulf with air force and navy bases in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE, and Oman. As a Nato member, the UK joining the defence of these locations would be good politics and part of the UK's obligations to the alliance under the Article 5 mutual defence agreement. But Reeves was opaque over what the RAF's handful of aircraft, likely based out of Akrotiri in Cyrus, would be doing. Asked whether the UK would come to Israel's aid if asked, the chancellor told Sky News' Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips: 'We have, in the past, supported Israel when there have been missiles coming in. 'I'm not going to comment on what might happen in the future, but so far, we haven't been involved, and we're sending in assets to both protect ourselves and also potentially to support our allies.' Let's be very clear. Israel is prosecuting a campaign against the population of Gaza with the intent, according to Israeli cabinet ministers, to empty the enclave of 2.5 million people. It is simultaneously campaigning on the West Bank, illegally taking land from Palestinians there, setting up colonies, and imposing a system of grand apartheid on the non-Jewish population. The UK has attracted widespread criticism for its reluctant and tardy criticism of these operations and continues to operate a spy plane over Gaza while supplying small amounts of military equipment to Israel. This is a very bad look, a moral failure that could lead to blowback in the form of violence against the UK. In April last year, the former head of MI6, Sir Alex Younger, told a Commons committee: 'You cannot pretend that the international environment, our foreign policy or the way in which the west is perceived are not significant drivers of all of this'. This is obvious. It should be obvious, too, to the British government that the very limited military capacity that the UK has will make no difference at all to the defence of Israel. Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's forces were able to fly 200 planes in their first attacks on Iran this week. There's no way the UK can get that many into the air under any circumstances. Israel has, according to the International Institute of Strategic Studies, Military Balance 2025, 240 fighter-bombers. The UK has 113. Israel has more attack helicopters (Apaches mostly) 38 vs 31, and the RAF has only nine aerial tankers compared to Israel's 14. Israel also has the kinds of air defence capabilities that the UK could only dream of; these include the Iron Dome systems, so effective against Hamas missiles. It also has the David's Sling, which has a range of about 185 miles, that can take down short and medium-range missiles like Iron Dome by smashing into them mid-flight. Meanwhile, its Arrow 2 defence system can hit incoming missiles 30 miles away at very high altitude, while Arrow 3 has a range of 1,500 miles and can shoot down missiles in space. The UK and US do have a very important listening station in Akrotiri, which is also a busy airfield for planes flying over Gaza, and the whole of the Middle East. It is within range of Iranian missiles and would need defending by the UK's extra jets and other assets. Iran is likely to try to strangle oil traffic through the Gulf. The UK used to help patrol the region, but the Royal Navy has been steadily reducing its presence there. Meanwhile, Britain runs the UK Maritime Trade Operations service, which advises shipping in the regions of the Gulf and Red Sea about security threats. It has stepped up its warnings to shipping in the Gulf and has reported the jamming of navigation systems and ramming attacks by small, unknown vessels, before Israel's sorties against Tehran. These operations are clearly ongoing rehearsals and training by Iranian forces. So, there is plenty for Britain to do without suffering the reputational damage of helping Israel with military aid it hardly needs right now. It's geopolitical dirty linen.
