Page 8 - bne_November 2020_20201104

8 I Companies & Markets bne November 2020
TURKEY INSIGHT:
Mystery on the bourse as traders ask "Who bought the banks?"
Akin Nazli in Belgrade
From the beginning of the trading week from September 21 to September 25, there was talk of “foreigner interest in banks” after some upward movement in banking stocks was seen. The “foreigners” in question should have been aware that the Turkish government was getting ready to stage a ‘no-hike rate hike’ theatre on September 24.
Following the announcement of the hike that really wasn’t, the banking index closed 5% up day on day. Moreover, during the morning of September 25, the banking index moved up
a further 3% d/d. Unfortunately, the index then closed the day with a rather limited rise but it was still up 5% w/w at the end of the trading week.
As things then turned out, the “foreigners” in question,
in other words the investors who were supposed to have pushed up the banking share prices, were not visible in the data on foreign investors' stakes.
Foreign investors' share in banks' free-floats from January 2019 to September 18 this year (by Ak Invest).
Banks' price-to-book ratios remain at gut-wrenching levels.
The Turkish government sees life as simple. It believes that governing a country, or an economy, is only about governing perceptions.
This perspective is supported by another bold assumption, namely that everyone is a fool and ready to be steered in
a convenient direction.
“The investors who were supposed to have pushed up the banking share prices, were not visible in the data on foreign investors' stakes”
Such a way of seeing life makes the government unable to see that some people simply play the fool as long as they gain some benefits from doing so.
The government is unfortunately still not aware that even pure ignorant (as it sees them) Turks (whom it thinks it can fool by
www.bne.eu