The Dubai stockmarket continued its rally in early trade on Tuesday after lender Emirates NBD rose sharply, although elsewhere in the gulf other major indices were mixed.

Dubai's index  rose 0.7% extending gains in the previous session when it hit its biggest one-day rise in three and half years, boosted by lender Emirates NBD, which increased a further 4.9%, a day after it closed at a 12-year high.

The bank raised foreign ownership limit to 20% from 5% with effect from Monday and also announced its intention to raise that limit to 40% in future.

However, most real estate shares fell led by blue-chip developer Emaar Properties which was down 0.6%.

Heavy oversupply in the property market, an important sector of Dubai's economy, has seen residential prices slide by at least a quarter since mid-2014.

On Monday, Dubai set up a real estate planning commission to regulate projects and avoid competition between semi-government and private firms, in a move designed to address property market slump.

In Abu Dhabi, the index lost 0.4% with Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank falling 1.8% and Emirates Telecommunications Shedding 0.7%. Growth in the United Arab Emirates non-oil private sector slowed to an eight-year low in August, with business activity and demand weakening for a third consecutive month, a survey showed on Tuesday.

Qatar's index rose 0.3% in its fourth straight session of gains, buoyed by financial stocks as banking shares rose.

Qatar International Islamic Bank jumped 5.2%, while Qatar National Bank was up 0.9%.

In Saudi Arabia, the index slipped 0.1%. Riyad Bank dropped 1.2% and Samba Financial Group fell 0.5%.

(Reporting by Maqsood Alam in Bengaluru, editing by Louise Heavens) ((Maqsood.Alam@thomsonreuters.com;))