20 October 2009 / TODAY'S ZAMAN, İSTANBUL
The İstanbul Stock Market (İMKB) advanced yesterday propelled by investors clamoring to return to the market after realizing that a sell-off last Friday was brought about by fears associated with changes to the laws governing withholding taxes for foreigners that were largely exaggerated.
The upward movement in the market was also no doubt influenced by global markets, themselves moving forward on the back of optimistic investor sentiment wagering on expected positive earnings results coming out of the US later in the trading day. The İMKB closed its morning session up 0.68 percent at 50,107.42 points. The session continued its rise in afternoon trading rising an additional 0.4 percent at the time Today's Zaman went to print. There's no specific reason for the market's advancement, said Murat Berk, a senior analyst at YapıKredi, when asked by Today's Zaman to explain why the market was advancing. Investors, he said, were using “buying the dips mentality,” pointing to the significant sell-off witnessed on Friday. “Today people have realized that the issue has been a little bit exaggerated.” The lira firmed slightly after traders decided Friday's sell-off, after a Constitutional Court ruling on withholding tax for foreign investors, was overstated. The lira was sold at 1.4575 against the dollar on the interbank market, 0.4 percent firmer than its 1.4630 close on Friday. The currency rose to its 12-month high last week. Oil hit a 12-month high above $79 a barrel before slipping back a bit, a move that boosted energy company shares.
