Qatar shares hit their highest level since July 11, with only two listed showing selling pressure.

Qatar Navigation jumped 5.1 percent, its highest close since June 19. Qatar Petroleum awarded a 20-year, 1.9 billion riyal ($522 million) contract to Qatar Shipping Co. for port services.

Doha Bank gained 3.3 percent and Commercial Bank of Qatar (CBQ) climbed 0.7 percent.

“In Qatar, we’re seeing some names rally as expected, particularly CBQ and Doha bank, whose financial performance started recovering last quarter,” said Sleiman Aboulhosn, assistant fund manager at Al Masah Capital.

Separately, Qatar’s central bank plans to sell 4 billion riyals ($1.1 billion) of treasury bills of different maturities on Aug 8 in a bid to help build a yield curve in the Gulf Arab state, a central bank source said on Thursday.

The benchmark climbed 1.1 percent to close at 8,490.81.

Support lies at 8,500 with 8,600 serving as the next technical resistance, said a Doha-based trader.

Egypt’s bourse ended a two-day losing streak as investors hoped that the unprecedented trial of ousted President Hosni Mubarak will bring stability, traders said. 

The EGX30 index closed up 1.7 percent at 5,008 points.

In Dubai, contractor Arabtec rose 2.1 percent and hit a three-month high ahead of second-quarter earnings.

Five analysts polled by Reuters expect the firm to post a quarterly net profit of AED39.6 million, down from AED111.1 million in the year-earlier period.**“We expect the company to continue suffering from slow progress on projects and weak margins,” said a note by CAPM Research.

“We believe the company is still facing delays on its newly awarded projects and especially those outside the UAE.”

Dubai’s index climbed 0.9 percent, up in four of last five sessions.

Air Arabia ended 0.8 percent higher after posting a 2 percent rise in second-quarter profit a day earlier and beating analyst estimates.

“Prospects for Air Arabia look better than past quarters- profits have stopped falling,” said Ibrahim Masood, senior investment officer at Mashreq bank.

“These are reasonable numbers. In the short-term I hope we’ve reached a bottom — its stock is trading far below its book value.”

Emaar Properties rose 2.7 percent and Dubai Financial Market advanced 2.6 percent, together accounting for a third of the shares.

In Abu Dhabi, Aldar Properties closed 1.6 percent higher ahead of its quarterly results, accounting for a quarter of all shares traded. 

Aldar swung to a second quarter net profit of AED127.3 million from a loss of AED475.28 million in the comparable period last year. 

Telecoms operator Etisalat climbed 1 percent higher, advancing for a third day since saying its Indian mobile phone joint venture partner withdrew a petition filed against the company before India’s Company Law Board.

The emirate’s measure gained 0.8 percent and hit a 10-day high.

Both Kuwait and Bahrain, however, ended the day lower. Kuwait’s index fell 0.02 percent to close at 6066.20 while Bahrain shares dropped 0.3 percent to 1281.

Global stocks were also weaker as the yen’s tumble from near record highs on Thursday and concerns about slowing global economic growth pushed world stocks toward the previous day’s 2011 low.