hyperlink.NavigateUrl getting changed on master page (possibly by ResolveUrl() )

Question

I have a hyperlink that in certain cases I want to change to show a jquery popup, but I'm having a strange problem when doing it on a master page. The following works in a regular page:

hyp1.NavigateUrl = "#notificationPopup";

Which renders as:

<a id="ctl00_hyp1" href="#notificationPopup">Example</a>

This is exactly what I want. The problem is with the exact same code on a hyperlink on the master page it renders as:

<a id="ctl00_hyp1" href="../MasterPages/#notificationPopup">Example</a>

It looks like it might be running the navigateUrl through ResolveClientUrl() or something when I'm setting it on the master page. I've tried swapping the <asp:hyperlink for a <a href runat=server, but the same thing happens.

Any ideas?