july 19 reuters  saudi arabias stock market outperformed its gulf peers on tuesday as the region continued its rebound from the recent selloff although the markets were cautious about inflation and global economic growth the benchmark index tasi in the kingdom advanced 18 led by a 21 rise in riyad bank 1010se and a 2 increase in makkah construction and development co 4100se the saudi market extended gains strengthened by the rise in oil prices in the last couple of days said daniel takieddine ceo mena bdswiss however the market could start correcting again as crude prices could return to their downward trend crude prices a key catalyst for the gulfs financial market fell 2 after soaring by more than 5 a barrel in the previous session weighed by fears that an economic slowdown will hit oil demand but tight supplies and a weaker dollar curbed some losses according to takieddine the market was supported by the governments initiatives and solid local fundamentals that could spur economic development the governments of france and the united arab emirates signed on monday a strategic agreement to cooperate in the energy sector the french government said read more in abu dhabi equities ftfadgi added 05 with the countrys largest lender first abu dhabi bank fabad the qatari index qsi which commenced trading at 1240 local time due to a technical glitch was up 03 helped by a 25 gain in qatar islamic bank qisbqa outside the gulf egypts bluechip index egx30 climbed 19 boosted by a 25 leap in top lender commercial international bank comica recently the egyptian bourse hit its lowest in nearly six years as the country has come under pressure because of a sharp slide in foreign portfolio investor holdings and rising costs for key commodity imports especially since russias invasion of ukraine reporting by ateeq shariff in bengaluru editing by shailesh kuber