While quarterly performance is important, focus should be on the long term. On the back of increased risk appetite that led to a strong stock market rally in the first three months of 2012, Gulf equity funds, led by Saudi Arabia and the UAE, performed notably well during the period, according to Lipper, a Thomson Reuters unit. The positive feeling about the market in the first quarter, however, did not fully compensate the negative sentiment in the first quarter of 2011. Overall, according to the latest data obtained by Gulf News, funds flows in the first quarter totalled $877.3 million (Dh3.22 billion), only half of the outflows of $1,685.9 million during the same period last year.