The Egyptian economy is said to be all but shut down as its citizens stage a revolution. That hasn’t stopped investors from piling into the Market Vectors Egypt (NYSEArca: EGPT) exchange traded fund (ETF).
You’d think the last place an investor would want to be is in a country that’s seen chaos reign in the streets and its stock market shut down, but there you have it.
Despite an eruption of turmoil on the streets of Cairo, trading volume in EGPT has surged massively. Yesterday, more than 800,000 units were traded, says The Wall Street Journal. The normal volume is more like 10,000 a day.
Even more odd: Egypt’s stock market has been closed since Thursday, and Van Eck yesterday stopped issuing new creation units because it can’t accurately price the underlying securities.