Borsa Istanbul plunges in response to PM’s remarks

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

Daily News Photo, Emrah Gürel

Borsa Istanbul, Turkey’s stock exchange, has plunged to its lowest level of this year with over 8 percent decrease after prime minister’s uncompromising remarks with regard to the Taksim Gezi Park project.

The BIST, which had been around 78,500, fell to even below 73,000 points after the joint press-meeting of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the Tunisian prime minister, in which the former did not soften his attitude toward protests.

The two-year benchmark bond yield also rose to 6.78 percent from 6.42 percent an the Turkish Lira weakened to 1.90 against the dollar.

After a slight recovery, the BIST 100 index, which was at around 78,700 points at the opening of the day’s second session, was down to 74,692 at 16.25 GMT.

As Erdoğan did not step back from the plans for Taksim Gezi Park, defending the Artillery Barracks project that was planned to be built in the park, the concerns of investors about the economic consequences of the incidents were prompted.

BIST had plummeted to 10.47 percent, which is the lowest slide since the 2001 crisis, on the first day of the week on June 3, due to the protests.