Middle East stocks: Egypt climbs to eight-week high, others mixed

Egypt's bourse hit an eight-week high after a non-violent weekend raised investors confidence on Sunday and property stocks lifted UAE markets. "We had fears something fierce would happen on Friday and nothing happened in terms of violence. Investors see it was smooth," said Omar Ascar of Cairo Capital Securities.
Optimism that the government will resolve land bank issues in the real estate sector also boosted investor interest, traders said. Egypt's index climbed 2.5 percent to its highest close since April 3, as the country's biggest real estate firm Talaat Moustafa soared 9.9 percent and Palm Hills jumped 9.7 percent.
In Dubai, Emaar Properties gained 2 percent after its Saudi affiliate Emaar Economic City received a $1.33 billion loan from the kingdom's finance ministry to speed up construction of a project.
Contractor Arabtec, which is active in Saudi Arabia, climbed 3.2 percent.
Dubai's benchmark gained 0.7 percent and Abu Dhabi's benchmark rose 0.4 percent.
Aldar Properties rose 2.2 percent, while Sorouh Real Estate gained 1.6 percent.
Oman's index neared a 22-month low, as Renaissance Services fell 3.7 percent. Company officials met with analysts on Tuesday and issued a bleak outlook for 2011, according to analysts, with some expecting the company to cancel a planned listing of its unit Topaz, which was postponed in March. Muscat's benchmark dropped 0.5 percent to its lowest close since July 2009.
"We expect the index to stabilise at current levels, as the (technical) indicators are positive," said Osama Ibrahim al-Qinna, head of brokerage at Oman Arab Bank.
"Although investors remain cautious in this volatile environment, we have noticed that market volumes are strongly supported by bluechip stocks."
Qatar's index ended 0.3 percent lower, edging back towards Wednesday's one-month low after Qatari Mohamed Bin Hammam withdrew his candidacy for the post of FIFA president on Saturday, one day before he is due to face an ethics committee hearing into bribery allegations.
Investors said the corruption charges were causing a selling pressure in the market.
However, traders were optimistic as they look ahead for a June 21 MSCI announcement on a possible index upgrade for Qatar to emerging market status.
"During these 3 weeks markets will come up again to 8,600 or above - we're waiting for the MSCI decision," said Hani Girgis, assistant chief dealer at Dlala brokerage.
Kuwait's index slipped 0.3 percent to hit a six-week low, as banks weighed and telco Zain fell 2 percent. A weak global backdrop and the beginnings of a traditionally slow summer are negatively affecting the market, analysts said.
Saudi Arabia's index edged up to a fresh four-month high as the agriculture and food sector index rose 0.8 percent and the construction benchmark added 1.5 percent.