Apex has four offices in the Middle East, Dubai, Bahrain, Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia and most fund administrators are paid based on the size of the funds they administer. This gives us exposure to the market falls throughout the MENA region as a result of the Egypt crisis.

It seems unfair on many of the markets in the region as the fundamental position of most of their stocks has remained unchanged by events in Egypt. If anything they have improved with the oil price reaching a two year high.

There is concern that the Egypt situation will flow into other economies. That isn't rational. Egypt has a large local population which is poor compared to most of the other Middle East countries. It has also been badly lead for a long time.

Bigger, wealthier economies based on a family ruling system means there are different core values and very few people that want or need to challenge an inherently stable system of government.

If the issue spreads it would be in North Africa and not to other Middle East countries. The drop in the MENA markets was from already low valuations. This should be seen as a good buying point for investors especially as Qatar and possibly the UAE are poised to join the MSCI Emerging Markets Index.

It's a good time for fund managers in the region to set up new funds quickly to capture the rally that should follow in March.

PH