Russell notes that the risks associated with investing in Egypt have chased investors from the market to Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, two countries that will are being promoted to emerging markets status from the frontier classification. Qatar and UAE are seen as the primary drivers of upside since early 2013 for ETFs such as the iShares MSCI Frontier 100 ETF (NYSEArca: FM) and the WisdomTree Middle East Dividend Fund (NasdaqGM: GULF). [Tee Off With GULF]
Although EGPT and the other ETFs with significant Egypt exposure do not benchmark to Russell indices, at least two factors are worth noting. First, MSCI also has Egypt on watch for a possible emerging-to-frontier demotion.
Second, Russell was the first major index provider to demote Greece to emerging from developed market status last year. MSCI and S&P Dow Jones Indices would later follow suit. [Another Emerging Markets Demotion for Greece]
Market Vectors Egypt ETF
