Market Wrap MENA-Asia 21 August: Hang Seng Tops 26,000 While Dubai Rises and Abu Dhabi Slips

By The Edge Research Team

Asia extended Thursday’s rebound into the weekly close on Friday, with Hong Kong leading the region above a round-number mark, while the United Arab Emirates, the only Gulf market open on Friday, split between a firmer Dubai and a softer Abu Dhabi. The Hang Seng climbed 1.21 percent to 26,009.46, clearing 26,000, and South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.88 percent for a second straight gain, per CNBC, while Japan’s headline inflation rate hit 1.9 percent in July, its highest this year, per CNBC. Dubai’s DFM General added 0.29 percent and Abu Dhabi’s FADGI slipped 0.71 percent, per the exchanges, and Bitcoin headed for a weekly gain of around 20 percent, per CNBC.

Across Asia, the gainers had the board. The Hang Seng closed at 26,009.46, up 1.21 percent, and the Shenzhen Component rose 0.87 percent to 14,094.17, moving above 14,000, with the CSI 300 up 0.57 percent and the Shanghai Composite little changed at 3,905.20, per CNBC. The Kospi added 0.88 percent to 6,912.95, extending Thursday’s rebound, Taiwan’s Weighted Index rose 0.65 percent to 45,224.29, Singapore’s Straits Times 0.30 percent to 5,688.96, the Topix 0.19 percent to 4,067.29 and India’s Nifty 50 closed little changed at 24,252.00, per CNBC. Japan’s Nikkei 225 eased 0.30 percent to 66,016.36 and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 0.27 percent to 9,058.90, the only declines among the Asian benchmarks tracked here, per CNBC. Japan’s headline inflation rate reached 1.9 percent in July, the highest this year, with core inflation, which strips out fresh food but includes energy, in line with expectations at 1.8 percent, per CNBC. Energy prices rose for the first time since November 2025 despite government subsidies on high oil costs from the conflict, and fresh food prices jumped 7 percent against June’s 3.9 percent rise, per CNBC.

In the Gulf, the United Arab Emirates traded alone, with the rest of the region and Egypt closed for the weekend. Dubai’s DFM General rose 0.29 percent to 5,856.55 on 180.0 million shares and 476.1 million dirhams of value, recovering most of the ground it gave up over the previous two sessions, per the exchange’s daily closing table. Abu Dhabi’s FADGI fell 0.71 percent to 10,004.43, giving back Thursday’s advance, per the exchange. The region’s other markets reopen Sunday, carrying Thursday’s closes into the new week.

In the wider market, gold extended Thursday’s recovery and Bitcoin’s week kept building. COMEX gold for December jumped 1.68 percent to 4,648.00 dollars an ounce in an intraday reading, per CNBC. ICE Brent for October held near 94 dollars at 93.84, little changed, and WTI for October, now the front month after the September contract’s expiry, traded at 86.94 dollars, per CNBC. Bitcoin surged 7.17 percent to 77,812.75 dollars in a live Friday reading, up about 24 percent from 62,836.88 at the start of the week, our calculation, after what CNBC described as a last-ditch push from the White House and industry leaders to pass the Clarity Act in the coming weeks; CNBC had earlier put the week’s gain at around 20 percent with Bitcoin at 75,343.01. The euro rose 0.21 percent to 1.1702 and sterling 0.12 percent to 1.3646, with the yen firmer at 158.69 per dollar and the dollar index down 0.24 percent at 98.66, per CNBC. The Kuwaiti dinar stood at 0.30675 to the dollar at the Central Bank of Kuwait’s 20 August official rate, the latest published with Kuwait’s onshore market closed for the weekend, per the central bank.

For reference, Thursday’s closes from our 20 August wrap show Wall Street giving back Wednesday’s bounce as Treasury yields rebounded, with the Dow down 1.32 percent, Walmart’s slide weighing, and London the only European gainer among the benchmarks we track for a third session.

MENA equities: UAE at Friday close, others at Thursday close for reference

Asia equities, 21 August close, ranked by change

US equities, Thursday 20 August closes, for reference, ranked by change

Europe equities, Thursday 20 August closes, for reference, ranked by change

Commodities, intraday 21 August, ranked by change

Currencies, 21 August

Volatility and crypto

Why it matters: Friday closed the week the way Thursday suggested it would: the buying that returned to Asia on Thursday broadened beyond Seoul, our reading. Hong Kong’s push through 26,000 and Shenzhen’s through 14,000 on the same day Seoul added to its rebound says the recovery is regional rather than a single-market bounce, our reading. The Gulf’s Friday pair told a quieter story: Dubai recovered most of two sessions’ losses on solid turnover while Abu Dhabi handed back Thursday’s gain, leaving both close to their midweek levels, with the region’s response to the week’s escalation still measured, our reading. Japan’s inflation print cuts the other way: energy costs from the conflict are now visible in a 1.9 percent headline rate and a 7.2 percent wholesale rate, per CNBC, a reminder that the oil premium the region’s exporters collect is arriving in Asia as imported inflation, with food costs adding their own pressure, our reading. Bitcoin’s surge, the sharpest Friday move among the assets tracked here, says risk appetite is intact where policy clears a path, our reading.

Outlook: The next markers are Sunday’s reopening across the Gulf and Egypt, which will give the region its first full session to price Thursday’s Wall Street pullback and the week’s sanctions escalation, Bessent’s Monday press conference on the Iran plan, per CNBC, and whether Brent’s hold near 94 dollars survives the weekend’s headlines. In Asia, the tests are whether Hong Kong holds above 26,000 and whether Japan’s energy-driven inflation shifts expectations for the Bank of Japan, our reading.

Sources: CNBC; Dubai Financial Market; Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange; Central Bank of Kuwait.

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