Qatar's stock market surged as it broke major technical resistance and Dubai was boosted by real estate companies on Monday, while most Middle Eastern markets were held back by weak oil prices and uneven corporate earnings.
The Qatari index gained 1.6 percent to 10,585 points, an advance on its December and March peaks at 10,490-10,502 points. Trading volume nearly quadrupled from Sunday's level.
The break triggered a reverse head & shoulders pattern formed by the highs and lows since December and pointing up in the long term to around 12,600 points.
There was strong buying in some blue chips that are due to report second-quarter earnings in the next few weeks. Industries Qatar surged 3.9 percent and Islamic bank Masraf Al-Rayan added 2.0 percent ahead of its earnings statement after the close.
The Dubai index, which has been technically short-term bullish after it broke last week above its May and June peaks, climbed 1.4 percent to 3,535 points as turnover expanded to its highest level in three months. 
Blue chip Emaar Properties jumped 2.2 percent and second-tier stocks in the sector were also bought in late trade, with Union Properties closing 2.0 percent higher and Deyaar adding 2.3 percent.
Although many analysts think Dubai housing prices and rents have further to fall, local consultancy ValuStrat said in a report on Sunday that the market had a good chance of starting to recover in the second half of 2016.
Other bourses in the region were much more subdued, with Abu Dhabi falling 0.3 percent although the most active stock, Methaq Takaful Insurance, jumped its 15 percent daily limit in its heaviest trade since December 2013.
Saudi Arabia's Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) closed almost flat at 6,682 points but National Shipping Co. of Saudi Arabia (Bahri) surged 3.2 percent after a senior executive told Reuters that the company planned to expand its fleet of very large crude carriers to around 46 by end-2018 from 36 now, which would probably make it the world's biggest operator of such ships.
Riyad Bank gained 0.5 percent after it posted a 1.6 percent year-on-year rise in second-quarter net profit to SR1.15 billion ($306.6 million); analysts polled by Reuters had on average forecast SR1.03 billion.
In Kuwait, the index edged down 0.2 percent, but National Bank of Kuwait gained 1.7 percent despite reporting a below-forecast 7.2 percent rise in profit to 71.68 million dinars ($237.2 million). Analysts had predicted 79.04 million dinars on average.
Egypt's index added 0.4 percent with real estate developer Emaar Misr, which has seen active trade in the past two days, gaining 1.6 percent.
Dairy company Arabian Food Industries (Domty) climbed 2.0 percent; it is planning to invest 240 million Egyptian pounds ($27 million) in 2016-17 to fund expansion and increase production capacity, vice chairman Mohamed Damaty told Reuters.

Source: Arab News