Mixed Gains in Africa and Middle East Shares & ETFs (EGPT, AFK, FFD, TUR, TKF, ISL, EIS, GAF, APA, PTNR, VIP)

Oil was hitting highs earlier today despite a recovery in the markets that fell the most on Friday.  The situation in Egypt is not exactly getting better, but it has not yet erupted into all-out anarchy and it has not yet gotten worse.  What is amazing is just how much some of the local market and regional area ETFs have come back.  Some have regained most of the losses from Friday, and we have hit a couple of closed-end funds and international stocks with exposure there in Egypt and the region as well.

The pure-play ETF is Market Vectors Egypt Index ETF (NYSE: EGPT).  A week ago it was at $18.80 and it closed at $16.22 on Friday.  After having much of the morning with shares halted, the ETF is up 5.6% at $17.14 on just over 600,000 shares right after 2:00 PM EST.

Market Vectors Africa Index ETF (NYSE: AFK) was down over 4% at $32.36 late on Friday and shares are up 0.4% at $32.44 today.

The Morgan Stanley Frontier Emerging Markets (NYSE: FFD) was down over 5% at $14.28 late on Friday and shares are up 1.8% at $14.42 today.

Turkey is even farther away than some peers, but the drop happened last week and the recovery is here today.  The iShares MSCI Turkey Investable Market Index (NYSE: TUR) was down 6.9% at $58.07 late on Friday and shares are up 3.1% at $59.84 this afternoon.  The Turkish Investment Fund Inc. (NYSE: TKF) was down 5.6% at $15.10 late Friday and shares are up 2.3% at $15.45 this afternoon.

North African and Middle East tension always causes concern in Israel… The Aberdeen Israel Fund Inc. (NYSE: ISL) was down 4.3% at $16.75 late Friday and shares are down another 1.5% at $16.50 today.  The iShares MSCI Israel Cap Investable Market Index (NYSE: EIS) was down 3.1% at $57.84 late on Friday and shares are today trading down another 2.4% at $56.59.

The SPDR S&P Emerging Middle East & Africa (NYSE: GAF) was down almost 5% at $68.62 late on Friday and shares are up 0.9% at $69.21 on Monday afternoon.

Apache Corp. (NYSE: APA) had traded ad low as $110.20 on Friday and closed at $114.84 with its substantial exposure in Egypt.  Shares have recovered yet another 2.8% today to $118.05.

Partner Communications Company Ltd. (NASDAQ: PTNR) offers cellular phone service under the Orange brand in Israel.  Shares closed down over 2% Friday at $20.04 and shares are down another 4.7% at $19.09 this afternoon.

Vimpel-Communications (NYSE: VIP) is a Russian cellular provider but it is in the midst of acquiring Orascom’s telecom assets in Egypt and shares closed down almost 3% at $13.96 on Friday.  Its shares are down another 0.5% today.

JON C. OGG