Mideast Stocks: UAE Shares End Higher As Outcome of US-China Trade Talks Awaited

Stock markets in the United Arab Emirates ended higher on Monday, in step with Asian peers, as investors awaited the outcome of U.S.-China trade talks in London in the hope that a deal could boost the global economic outlook.

Top U.S. and Chinese officials will sit down in London on Monday for talks aimed at defusing the high-stakes trade dispute between the two super powers that has widened to export controls over goods and components critical to global supply chains. Dubai's benchmark index hit its highest levels since 2008 and settled up 1%, with almost all sectors in positive territory.

Tolls operator Salik Company gained 2.3% and Deyaar Development surged 14.6%. In Abu Dhabi, the index was up for a third straight session and gained 0.1%, lifted by a 1.6% rise in blue-chip developer Aldar Properties and a 1.8% advance in Abu Dhabi's flagship energy firm Abu Dhabi National Energy Company.

** Most stock markets in the Gulf and Egypt including Saudi, Qatar, Kuwait are closed on Monday due to a public holiday