(Updates to closing prices)

By Ateeq Shariff

Oct 14 (Reuters) - Most stock markets in the Gulf closed

higher on Tuesday, propelled by higher expectations of U.S.

Federal Reserve interest rate cuts and anticipation of

third-quarter earnings reports, although gains were moderated by

renewed U.S.-China trade tensions.

Investors are awaiting Fed Chair Jerome Powell's speech at

the NABE annual meeting later in the day for cues into the

central bank's policy path.

Traders expect a 99% and 94% chance of a 25-basis-point cut

in October and December, respectively.

Policy shifts in the U.S. often sway Gulf markets where most

currencies are pegged to the dollar.

Dubai's main share index jumped 1.4%, buoyed by a

3% gain in blue-chip developer Emaar Properties , and

a 3.8% gain in top lender Emirates NBD. The bank is in

advanced talks to buy a stake in Indian private lender RBL Bank

, Reuters reported on Tuesday, citing two people

familiar with the deal.

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba's ( BABA ) cloud business

unit has launched its second data centre in Dubai, it said on

Tuesday, nine years after its first.

Abu Dhabi's benchmark index inched 0.1% higher.

Saudi Arabia's benchmark index finished flat.

The market's direction hinges on upcoming third-quarter

results, Joseph Dahrieh, managing principal at Tickmill, said.

"However, the continued downturn in oil prices, which have

touched a five-month low, could weigh negatively on sentiment."

Oil prices - a catalyst for the Gulf's financial markets -

fell by over 2% as trade tensions flare between the U.S. and

China, the world's two biggest economies, and after the

International Energy Agency raised the prospect of increased

supplies and weaker demand growth.

The Qatari index declined 0.8%, hit by a 2.2% fall in

the Gulf's biggest lender, Qatar National Bank.

U.S. and China from Tuesday began charging additional port

fees on ocean shipping firms that move everything from holiday

toys to crude oil, making the high seas a key front in the trade

war.

Outside the Gulf, Egypt's blue-chip index finished

0.1% higher.

Saudi Arabia was flat at 11,596

Abu Dhabi rose 0.1% to 10,111

Dubai advanced 1.4% to 6,033

Qatar lost 0.8% to 10,746

Egypt was up 0.1% to 37,459

Bahrain closed flat at 1,971

Oman gained 0.9% to 5,240

Kuwait rose 0.5% to 9,391