Turkish investment funds hit record level of $22 bln

ISTANBUL

The total volume of the investment funds in Turkey has exceeded 150 billion Turkish Liras ($22 billion), and the number of people and entities investing in them has reached 3.1 million, according to the Settlement and Custody Bank of Borsa Istanbul (Takasbank).

“The Turkish capital markets are growing as our family of investors is expanding. We are working on enlarging the Turkish capital markets and diversifying investment tool instruments,” said Treasury and Finance Minister Berat Albayrak in a tweet, sharing figures from the Takasbank.

Referring to tenders and construction works to build a business quarter with high-rise structures in Istanbul’s Ataşehir district on the Anatolian side, he said, “Being a financial center will suit Istanbul a lot.”

The portfolio of investment funds, which was at 122.7 billion liras ($20.6 billion) at the end of last year, increased 25 percent to 153.6 billion liras ($22.5 billion) in the first five months of this year, Takasbank data showed. More than 88,600 investors started putting money in investment funds in the same period, bringing the total number of investors of these funds to nearly 3.1 million. More than 118,000 of those investors were legal entities, while individuals made the vast majority.

In 2015, an electronic system for mutual fund investors, TEFAS, was put into service for faster transactions. A mobile application of TEFAS was developed in 2018, enabling individuals to make swift stock exchange transactions easily. TEFAS users can also reach information such as asset allocations, price movements and yield rates transparently.

Meanwhile, some 350,000 new investors have placed nearly 45 billion liras ($6.6 billion) in stocks at the Borsa Istanbul (BIST), according to floor traders. While the total number of stock market players reached 1.5 million, the share of domestic investors increased to 47 percent in May from 36 percent in November 2019.

Since mid-March, when the first coronavirus infections were detected in Turkey, BIST 100 index increased 4.5 percent. The shares of retailers and markets recorded big hikes, but those of the banks and energy companies retracted in the same period.

The weights of Garanti Bank, Akbank, BİM supermarket chain and the Turkish Petroleum Refineries Corporation (Tüpraş) were 8.4 percent, 8.2 percent, 6.3 percent and 5.8 percent at the end of last year, respectively. The weights of the two banks decreased more than 2.1 percent at the end of May, according to Alnus Investments. In the meantime, the weight of Tüpraş contracted to 4 percent. On its part, the weight of BİM’s shares in the BIST soared 50 percent to nearly 9.5 percent.

BIST 100 index started the morning trading session at 109,150.34 points on June 11, down by 0.57 percent, or 628.60 points. At June 10’s close, Turkey’s benchmark stock index was up 0.5 percent to 109,778.94 points, with a daily trading volume of 16.3 billion liras ($2.4 billion).

The dollar/lira exchange rate dropped to 6.7870 as of 9:30 a.m. local time (0630GMT) yesterday, compared to 6.7910 at June 10’s close.