Egypt's main index rose 3 percent to 5,409 points on heavy appetite from local investors and renewed interest from foreigners, in a fifth day of trading following a shutdown of over seven weeks due to a popular revolt against former President Hosni Mubarak, Reuters said.

"People were expecting the market to fall much more, not realizing that the market already shed some 25 percent pre-revolution," Reuters quoted Omar Darwish of CIBC Brokerage, as saying.

"A further discount in the market post-revolution made stock prices attractive," he said.

Orascom Telecom climbed 9.3 percent after the firm said it would seek shareholder approval for a capital increase and a split of the company.

Russia's Vimpelcom expects to complete its more than $6 billion deal for assets of Egyptian tycoon Naguib Sawiris, chairman of Orascom Telecom, within a month, Vimpelcom's chief executive said on Tuesday.

Saudi Arabia's benchmark rose for a seventh session in nine, with blue chips ending mixed. The Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) edged higher by 0.17 percent to 6,519.13 points. The sector activity for the day was almost positive with 10 out of 15 with gains ranging from 0.16 percent by the Building & Construction sector to 2.17 percent by the Media and Publishing sector. On the other hand the losing sectors ranged from 0.16 percent by the Banks & Financial Services sector to 0.94 percent by the Hotel & Tourism sector. The overall market breadth for the day was positive with 89 advancers against 42 decliners giving it an AD ratio of 2.1, the Financial Transaction House (FTH) — licensed by the Capital Market Authority — said in its daily market commentary.

The stock market turnover for the day reached SR4.03 billion.

The real estate index hit a six-week high, extending gains on renewed speculation that a long-awaited mortgage law would be approved soon.

"Real estate stocks may have an effect for next two days on the mortgage law," said a Riyadh-based trader who asked not to be identified. "I would be cautious on real estate numbers. We could see some weakness. In the long-term, they are good, but people are short-term here."

Dubai's index gave back early-session gains, with Emaar Properties' surprise dividend providing only a short-term lift. Emaar rose 0.3 percent after shareholders approved a surprising 10 percent cash dividend, its first since 2008.

"Emaar wanted to preserve cash for a rainy day and it has some short-term refinancing risk we can't ignore," said Jad Abbas, EFG-Hermes real estate analyst. The developer has debt worth 4.5 billion dirhams ($1.2 billion) maturing in 2011, Abbas said.

"We expect most of this to be rolled over," he said, adding that 2011 should be a relatively good year for the developer as it shifts towards its international operations.

The Dubai measure slipped 0.1 percent to 1,555 points.

Abu Dhabi's index surged 0.04 percent to 2,635 points, taking its March gains to 1.8 percent.

Oman's index fell to a 12-day low after Renaissance Services fell 6.6 percent on talk it may delay a $500 million London listing of its Dubai-based unit Topaz, Reuters said.

The Qatar index rose 0.3 percent to 8,399 points.

The Kuwait index rose 0.3 percent to 6,323 points.

The Oman index fell 0.5 percent to 6,339 points.

The Bahraini measure dropped 0.09 percent to 1,427 points.