Kuwait-listed Gulf Finance House soared on Thursday after its chairman sold a $1.4 million stake in the firm, helping the country's index gain for a third straight day. The investment company's stock jumped 8.2 percent. Its major shareholder sold 7 million shares to al Ahlia Bahrain brokerage, according to a bourse statement on Wednesday.
The index ended 0.7 percent higher, up for a third day since Monday's seven-year low. Large-caps also rose, with National Bank of Kuwait up 1.9 percent, Zain climbing 3 percent and Kuwait Finance House rising 2.2 percent.
Elsewhere, UAE markets ended mixed, with Abu Dhabi's benchmark gaining 0.2 percent and Dubai's index easing 0.2 percent.
National Bank of Abu Dhabi, UAE's largest lender by market value, gained 1.8 percent after reporting a 2.5 percent increase in quarterly net profit.
But UAE markets were little-moved by positive results.
"Generally, Gulf markets will probably remain sideways for the next two months," said Shakeel Sarwar, head of asset management at Securities & Investment Co in Bahrain.
"Most of the major companies reported good results without having much impact. I don't think any positive (earnings) surprise will have an impact from now on. The market is more worried about the global economic issues."
Dubai logistics firm Aramex ended flat after posting a 3 percent rise in second-quarter net profit.
The euro fell broadly and world stocks slipped from a 1-1/2 week high on Thursday after European officials said a selective default for Greece was a live possibility, raising concerns about impact on the banking sector.
In Qatar, the index ended little changed with Qatar Islamic Bank weighing on the bourse after its quarterly results failed to impress investors.
The lender slipped 0.3 percent after posting a 26.9 percent rise in second-quarter net profit of 382 million riyals ($105 million).
"QIB's profitability results are somewhat inline with our expectations, deviating 6 percent from our expectation of 361 million riyals on account of provisioning reversal of 7 million riyals during 2Q11," Digvijay Tanwar, senior financial analyst at Gulf Investment House, said in a research note.
The benchmark inched up 0.06 percent, up just 0.4 percent in July.
Large-caps were mixed, with Qatar National Bank easing 0.2 percent, while Industries Qatar gained 0.2 percent. Oman's market was closed on Thursday for a public holiday.