DUBAI, July 26 (Reuters) - Shares in Saudi Basic Industries Corp could gain on Tuesday after the company said it was in talks with an affiliate of U.S. Exxon Mobil to launch a joint venture, but most Gulf bourses look set to be sluggish with oil prices weak and global equities soft.

SABIC announced late on Monday that it was studying a proposal for a jointly owned petrochemicals complex on the United States' Gulf coast.

"Although talks are still in their preliminary stages, the talks will signal to investors just how serious and proactive local companies are at turning global," said one petrochemical equities analyst. SABIC is expected to report second-quarter earnings by the end of this week.

But other Saudi petrochemical shares may have a weak bias as Brent futures are trading near 11-week lows.

Etihad Etisalat (Mobily), Saudi Arabia's second largest listed telecommunications operator, swung to a net profit in the second quarter of 18.8 million riyals ($5.02 million). This compared with a loss of 901 million riyals in the prior-year period but fell short of analysts' average profit forecast of 52.5 million riyals.

Dubai Financial Market may fall after it reported a 60 percent plunge in quarterly net profit on Monday as revenue fell by 43.9 percent.

In Egypt, the stock market index faces selling pressure as the Egyptian pound weakened to an unprecedented 13 to the dollar on the black market on Monday amid expectations for a devaluation.

Although economists expect Egypt's central bank to keep interest rates unchanged at its monetary policy committee meeting on Thursday, after it raised rates by 100 basis points at its last meeting, further hikes are not ruled out if the currency cotinues to get knocked down.

(Reporting by Celine Aswad; Editing by Andrew Torchia) ((celine.aswad@thomsonreuters.com; +971 4 4536886; Reuters Messaging: celine.aswad.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))