By Ateeq Shariff
       July 9 (Reuters) - Stock markets in the Gulf ended mixed
on Tuesday as investors awaited U.S. Federal Reserve Chair
Jerome Powell's testimony to Congress for clues on potential
interest rate cuts.
    Powell is set to appear on Tuesday and Wednesday, with
investors seeing an 80% chance of a rate cut in September
following soft labour market data.           
    Focus will also be on the U.S. consumer price report for
June on Thursday, with headline inflation expected to slow to
3.1% from 3.3% in May, and core inflation seen steady at 3.4%.
    Monetary policy in the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council
(GCC) is usually guided by the Fed's decisions as most regional
currencies are pegged to the U.S. dollar.
    Saudi Arabia's benchmark index gained 0.5%, led by a
4.1% rise in Al Taiseer Group and a 1% increase in Al
Rajhi Bank.
    However, oil giant Saudi Aramco was down 0.4%.
    Crude prices - a catalyst for the Gulf's financial markets -
slipped after a hurricane that hit a key U.S. oil-producing hub
in Texas caused less damage than markets had expected, easing
concerns over supply disruption.
    Aramco made its return to the debt market on Tuesday after a
three-year hiatus, joining top companies and governments in the
Gulf that have tapped markets this year to fund investments.
    In Qatar, the index edged 0.1% higher, with Qatar
Islamic Bank gaining 0.7%.
    Dubai's main share index eased 0.1%, with Gulf
Navigation Holding declining 5.7%.
    In Abu Dhabi, the index closed flat.
    Outside the Gulf, Egypt's blue-chip index added
0.2%, helped by a 2.3% increase in Talaat Mostafa Holding
 after the firm booked sales of 340 billion Egyptian
pounds ($7.08 billion) for this year up to July 8.
    Inflation in Egypt is forecast to have slowed for the fourth
month in a row in June, maintaining a downward trajectory that
most analysts expect to last for the rest of the year at least,
a Reuters poll showed on Monday.
    
 SAUDI ARABIA          rose 0.5% to 11,780
 ABU DHABI                was flat at 9,136
 DUBAI                  eased 0.1% to 4,078
 QATAR                added 0.1% to 10,166
 EGYPT                  up 0.2% to 28,466
 BAHRAIN              was down 0.3% to 2,000
 OMAN                   rose 0.1% to 4,691
 KUWAIT               added 0.6% to 7,737
 

($1 = 48.0200 Egyptian pounds)

 (Reporting by Ateeq Shariff in Bengaluru; Editing by Mark
Potter)