National Bank of Oman, the sultanate's fourth-largest lender by market capitalisation, posted a near-flat second quarter net profit, Reuters calculated, beating analyst estimates.

The lender made a second-quarter net profit of 10.17 million rials ($26.4 million) compared with 10.3 million rials in the corresponding period in 2012.

Net profit for the first half of the year was 18.77 million rials compared with 19.92 million rials in the prior year period, NBO said in a statement on Oman's bourse.

Five analysts polled by Reuters had on average expected the bank to post a net profit of 9.53 million rials for the second quarter. – Reuters