The SPK released the results of its capital markets expectations survey on Friday, which was conducted in January and points to a “no change” in the market in February as compared to a month before. The SPK launched a pilot for the expectation survey in November of last year, and this is the first time the board has publicly shared the results of its findings. The SPK announced in a written statement that they would conduct the survey and release the results monthly from now on.
While the capital markets are likely to leave February behind with neither positive nor negative developments, some 331 company managers who participated in the survey drew a more optimistic picture for the first half and end of the year.
According to the survey’s results, 72 percent of participants said interest rates will remain the same in February as in January, while they anticipate an increase during the following six months and through to the end of the year. Sixty-six percent said the US dollar and the euro would maintain their position against the Turkish lira in February, while these currencies would gain in value against the lira by the end of the first six months and by the end of the year.
As regards expectations for the course of the İstanbul Stock Exchange (İMKB), more than half of the participating company managers expect a recovery in benchmark indices in both the first six months and by the end of the year. This group also expects an increase in the number of new investors on the İMKB and in its trading volume.
Fifty-nine percent of those surveyed said public offerings at the İMKB would increase in the first half of the year over the preceding six months, while the number that expects an even greater increase in this area by the year’s end was higher, at 69 percent. The majority of participants also expressed expectations for an increase in trading volume at the İstanbul Gold Exchange (İAB) and the Turkish Derivatives Exchange (VOB) at the end of the first six months as well as for the entire year.
