jan 29 reuters  stock markets in the gulf ended higher on sunday after cooling us inflation lifted expectations the federal reserve would slow its pace of interest rate hikes the us central banks preferred gauge for inflation slowed in in december the government reported on friday hitting its lowest level since september 2021 the fed will end its tightening cycle after a 25basispoint hike at each of its next two policy meetings and then likely hold interest rates steady for at least the rest of the year according to most economists in a reuters poll most gulf currencies are pegged to the us dollar while saudi arabia the united arab emirates and qatar usually mirror us monetary policy changes saudi arabias benchmark index tasi rose 02 supported by gains in financial and energy sector stocks saudi oil giant aramco 2222se inched up 03 and the worlds largest islamic bank by market capitalization al rajhi bank 1120se rose 16 the qatari stock index qsi rose 04 with most of its constituent stocks in positive territory the gulfs biggest lender qatar national bank qnbkqa continued its rally with a 09 gain and commercial bank combqa continued its rally since monday settling 26 after it climbed 10 on thursday the bank reported tuesday a more than 22 rise in fy net profit beating analysts expectations outside the gulf egypts bluechip index egx30 surged 37 its highest intraday rise since november the index was helped by a 147 jump in telecom egypt etelca and commercial international bank egypt comica jumping 61 among other gainers alexandria container and cargo handling alcnca and abu qir fertilizers and chemical industries abukca rose 24 and 05 respectively after they reported rises in half year net profit