Van Eck Releases Egypt ETF

A news release said the new offering is the first U.S.-based exchange-traded fund to provide focused exposure to Egypt’s economy.

The ETF seeks to replicate as closely as possible, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the Market Vectors Egypt Index (MVEGPTTR), the company said. The index provides a means to track the overall performance of companies that are domiciled and primarily listed in Egypt, or that generate a majority of their revenues in the country. 

As of January 31, 2010, the Egypt Index included 28 securities; the top three index holdings were Commercial International Bank, Orascom Construction Industries, and Orascom Telecom Holding SAE (8.5%, 8.4%, 7.9% of the Index, respectively). Sectors with a greater than 10% weighting as of January 31 included Financials, Telecommunication Services, Industrials, and Materials.

The Index is calculated using a market-capitalization weighting methodology, and is float-adjusted and modified so that the weight of any single component does not account for more than 8% of the total capitalization at a rebalancing date. It is denominated in U.S. dollars and reviewed quarterly.

“The Market Vectors Egypt Index ETF addresses a growing interest in using individual country funds to calibrate international equity allocations, particularly on the part of investors dissatisfied with existing indices,” said Jan van Eck, Principal at Van Eck Global, in the announcement. “These funds serve as targeted tools for overweighting or underweighting specific geographies and economies.”

More information is available here.