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bne April 2021 Cover story I 35
Foreign investors holding of stocks on Borsa Istanbul falls to all time low
agement in early November, the figure climbed towards 31% until mid-January.
Since mid-January, it has once more been subject to a trend of decline.
It fell below the 30%-level in mid-February and since then
it has been in the 29%s.
Back in 2007, this figure was in the 59%s. It fell below 50% in 2011. And it has been below 40% since November 2019. August 2020 brought the descent below 30%.
The central bank’s data on portfolio flows also supports the picture that suggests foreign investors’ renewed interest in Borsa Istanbul after the economic change of direction was short-lived. The Erdogan economic team may have been revamped, but the long-term negative trend did not reserve. That trend has essentially continued since end-2019.
Between January 15 and March 5, foreigners sold a net $1.1bn worth of Borsa Istanbul equities.
On the global front, the market stress has not dissolved. On March 17, the Fed will release the results of its monetary policy committee (MPC) meeting.
US President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus package is now in effect but it was already priced in. Biden is presently getting ready to hike taxes, which will add to the pressure on markets.
Akin Nazli in Belgrade
The foreign investor-held share of the market value of stocks on the Borsa Istanbul fell below the 45% level on March 10. It stood at 44.93% on March 12.
The figure was in the 70%s in 2007- 2008 and hovered in the 60%s until as recently as the beginning of 2020, at which point the Turkish government decided to make life difficult for foreign players on the local stock market as
BIST-100 vs Foreigners' Share in Free-Float
it sought to use unorthodox means to quell Turkey's economic turbulence. It was in July 2020 that the figure fell below the 50% threshold.
The figure based on the number of shares held is also not too encouraging. In Sep- tember, on that measure, foreign inves- tors owned around 28% of the market.
Following the Erdogan administration's shake-up of Turkey's economic man-
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