Arab Spring still clouds Gulf markets - Zawya

Middle East unrest has been predictably messy for Gulf investors. Despite improving fundamentals, the region's stock markets continue to trade well below their peak
Gulf capital markets must confront a stark dichotomy in 2011. Robust fundamentals, underpinned by reviving post-crisis economies and buoyant hydrocarbons prices, have generally failed to lift investor sentiment as political turmoil afflicts much of the region.

The Jasmine revolution that wafted across from Tunisia late in 2010, swiftly bringing political change in Cairo in its wake, has mutated into a series of violent conflicts that have pitted state security forces against protest movements in countries from Libya to Syria and Yemen.

A deadly stalemate has descended, bringing to an end the hopes that the tide of unrest could swiftly usher in democratic change.

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