By Ateeq Shariff

April 23 (Reuters) - Most stock markets in the Gulf ended higher on Wednesday, after U.S. President Donald Trump said he had no plans to fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and hinted at lower tariffs for China.

On Tuesday, Trump backed off from threats to fire Powell after days of intensifying criticisms of the central bank chief for not cutting interest rates.

The president also reiterated that he wanted a deal with China, following which tariffs would not be anywhere near 145%, and said he would set the terms of the deal if Beijing did not enter talks.

Saudi Arabia's benchmark index .TASI finished 0.8% higher, led by a 3.6% rise in ACWA Power Company 2082.SE and a 2.5% increase in Saudi Telecom Company 7010.SE.

Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund on Tuesday lowered its 2025 GDP growth forecast for Saudi Arabia, while flagging headwinds for the broader region, including a more gradual resumption of oil production.

Dubai's main share index .DFMGI advanced 1.4%, buoyed by a 3.6% jump in blue-chip developer Emaar Properties EMAR.DU.

Elsewhere, Emirates NBD Bank ENBD.DU climbed 2.5%, extending gains for a third session.

In the previous session, ENBD - Dubai's top lender - reported net profit of 6.2 billion dirhams for the first quarter, beating analysts' expectations of about 5.1 billion dirhams.

Elsewhere, Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company (du) DU.DU closed 0.6% higher. The company on Tuesday announced a 2 billion-dirham ($544.5 million) hyper-scale data centre deal with Microsoft MSFT.O.

The Abu Dhabi index .FTFADGI concluded 0.7% higher.

The Qatari index .QSI climbed 1%, with the Gulf's biggest lender Qatar National Bank QNBK.QA rising 0.9%.

Outside the Gulf, Egypt's blue-chip index .EGX30 jumped 2.6%, as most of its constituents were in positive territory including Commercial International Bank COMI.CA, which was up 2.9%.

(Reporting by Ateeq Shariff in Bengaluru
Editing by Ros Russell)

((AteeqUr.Shariff@thomsonreuters.com; +918061822788;))