* Qatar bullish after technical breakout
* Qatar Islamic Bank surges on Q2 earnings
* Saudi's Ma'aden sinks on earnings
* Emaar Properties outperforms in Dubai
* Dollar shortage weighs on Egypt


Qatar's stock market rose on Tuesday after breaking major technical resistance, but other markets in the region were sluggish, held back by soft oil prices and mixed corporate earnings.
The Qatari index climbed 0.6% to 10,649 points in a broad-based rise, with nine of the 10  most heavily traded stocks gaining. Trading volume fell from Monday's high level but remained active.
On Monday the index had broken above its December and March peaks at 10,490 and 10,502 points, triggering a "reverse head and shoulders" pattern formed by the highs and lows since December and pointing up in the long term to around 12,600 points.
Qatar Islamic Bank surged 3.9% after reporting a second-quarter net profit of QR562.6mn; the 13.7% year-on-year advance beat the QR524.3mn average forecast of analysts polled by Reuters.
Commercial Bank of Qatar (CBQ) initially fell after Turkish conglomerate Anadolu Industry Holding decided to exercise a put option to sell CBQ the 25% of Turkey's Alternatifbank that it does not already own. But the bank, which was due to report quarterly earnings after the close, rose in late trade to end up 1.4%.
Qatar International Islamic Bank rose 2.0% after it said profit in the first half of this year edged up to QR443mn from QR438mn a year earlier.
However, United Development fell 1.8% after it said first-half profit dropped to QR332mn from QR557mn.
Saudi Arabia's stock market was dampened by some weak earnings. The Saudi stock index lost 0.5% as Saudi Arabian Mining Co (Ma'aden) slid 3.9%. It posted a 51% year-on-year drop in quarterly net profit as sales revenues were hit by low commodity prices, although the profit was at the high end of analysts' estimates.
Saudi Airlines Catering fell 1.6% after announcing a 17% decline in quarterly profit.
Al Rajhi Bank, the kingdom's second-largest lender by assets, reported a 5.7% rise in second-quarter net profit that was broadly in line with analysts' forecasts. Its shares fell 0.4%.
Dubai's index fell 0.3% in a broad-based decline, although Emaar Properties added 0.7%. The shares began rising on Monday after a local consultancy report suggested the emirate's real estate market might recover in the second half of this year.
The Abu Dhabi index edged down 0.1%, but Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank gained 1.5% after slightly exceeding analysts' forecasts with a 12.3% drop in second-quarter net profit. It earned 1.13bn dirhams; analysts had forecast 1.07bn dirhams.
Egypt's index slipped 0.4%. Sentiment remains depressed by slow economic growth and the country's hard currency shortage. The Egyptian arm of Emirates NBD said it was suspending use of debit and credit cards abroad to keep hard currency inside the bank.
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