DUBAI: National Bank of Kuwait, the Gulf Arab state's largest commercial lender, reported a 3.2 percent rise in first-quarter net profit on Sunday, edging ahead of analysts' expectations.

Net profit was 83.9 million dinars ($298.6 million) in the three months to the end of March, compared to 81.3 million dinars a year ago, it said in a bourse filing.

Five analysts in a Reuters poll had predicted 80.70 million dinars in net profit on average for the quarter.