Gulf investors hoping that a rash of healthy third-quarter results would buoy stock markets and provide the spark for a period of stability must be sorely disappointed.

Gulf corporations fulfilled their part. On a composite basis, about 230 companies in the region reported net profit growth of 28 per cent in the quarter, with Qatari entities surging ahead with a 67 per cent rise in profit, according to the calculations of Markaz, a Kuwaiti investment bank.