The Damac Heights real estate development, right, in the Dubai Marina in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on Friday, Feb. 20, 2026.
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Stocks listed in Dubai and Abu Dhabi slid on Wednesday, as UAE indexes reopened from a two-day closure that followed Iranian drone and missile strikes on the nation.
Dubai's benchmark index was last seen trading 4.9% lower, putting it on course for its worst day since May 2022. Abu Dhabi's main index was more than 3% lower, on track for its sharpest intraday decline since August, while the Nasdaq UAE 20 was down 4.3%.
State-owned bank Emirates NBD, down 5.2%, led losses in Dubai, while Abu Dhabi's Al Buhaira National Insurance Company and Umm Al Qaiwain General Investments, down 9.6% and 8.7% respectively, led losses there.
Before the open, both exchanges said that they would temporarily adjust their lower price limit thresholds for securities to -5%.
Over the weekend, Iran launched a wave of missile and drone attacks on the UAE in retaliation to U.S.-Israeli strikes that killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iran's strikes on the UAE have hit civilian and commercial areas, with Dubai's international airport, hotels and Amazon data centers suffering damage.
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Airspace closures around the UAE led to thousands of flight cancellations after the strikes. Budget airline Air Arabia was last seen trading 5% lower.
In a note on Tuesday, analysts at Citi said they believe the escalation in the Middle East conflict could have "a profound and potentially long-lasting impact on the MENA region."
They said Dubai's Emaar and Abu Dhabi real estate developer Aldar were most at risk of taking a hit to earnings-per-share growth, while lenders NBK and ENBD had the biggest downside risk in the banking space.
"Valuation impact could vary (and could potentially be more severe) as stocks derate driven by increase in perceived equity risk premium," Citi's analysts said.
"For real estate developers, while sales might drop as property prices and demand for properties decline, the immediate revenue from the current situation might be less severely impacted (since revenue is based on conversion of backlog on sales already made).
"However, perceived risk premium for the MENA stocks (esp. those which are well owned by foreign shareholders or appear relatively valuation rich) could go up materially."
The sell-off in the Gulf on Wednesday follows days of losses in stock indexes across the globe.
Wednesday morning saw the sell-off resume in Asia, while European stocks opened in positive territory, snapping two consecutive days of broad losses in the region. Stock futures in the U.S. pointed to a negative open after all three major averages ended Tuesday's session in the red.
