In Brief
Election hopes push Turk stocks to record high ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Expectations Turkey’s pro-business ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) will return to power as a strong single-party government pushed Turkish stocks to a record high yesterday, while the lira surged almost 1 percent. The main Istanbul stock index closed 4.3 percent higher at 53,325 points, a record which also topped previous intraday highs. «The market is preparing for a rally after the election as it looks sure that it will be a one-party government and the polls show this clearly,» Oguz Yilmaz, head of stock trading at Hak Securities, said. The lira, already trading at more than two-year highs, rose almost 1 percent to close at 1.2655 to the dollar on the interbank market. Bonds on the secondary bond market were also firmer, with the yield on the May 6, 2009, benchmark bond at 17.54 percent, down from 17.75 percent on Wednesday. Analysts said foreign investors were pushing new cash into Turkish markets due to perceptions the political outlook was clearer. «On Monday, if the election results are within the range of expectations, the lira could go to 1.25 to the dollar and bond yields to 17 percent. But if something unexpected happens, you could expect the lira to go to 1.30 and the bond yield to 18.5 percent,» one Istanbul trader said. Cyprus says onus on industry to cut CO2 NICOSIA (Reuters) -Cyprus yesterday said the onus was on its heavy industry to switch to cleaner energy sources after the European Commission cut the island’s CO2 emissions allowance by 23 percent. «We don’t have a magic wand… heavy industrial units have to modernize their technology and the government has to pressure them in this direction,» said government spokesman Vassilis Palmas. The European Union executive said it had set the carbon dioxide emissions allowance at 5.48 million tons per year for Cyprus for 2008-2012. Cyprus now relies on heavy fuel oil to fire its power stations. It plans to introduce liquefied natural gas to the market by 2009. Cukurova media sale Turkish conglomerate Cukurova plans to sell up to 50 percent of its print media and television assets and has hired JP Morgan for the sale, sources familiar with the deal said. Cukurova is offering a minority stake in its print media assets, which include newspaper Aksam, television companies, including entertainment channel Show TV, and pay-TV Digiturk, the sources said. (Reuters) Bulgaria curbs credit boom Bulgaria’s central bank approved new measures yesterday to slow an explosion in bank loans in an attempt to prevent an economic overheating. Lending from commercial banks has spiked since the beginning of the year, driving a boom in imports that are expected to swell the Balkan country’s current account deficit to 18 percent of GDP this year. The bank said it is increasing minimum reserve requirements on all deposits to 12 percent from 8 percent at present, effective September 1 after the credit growth spiked to 47.4 percent at the end of June from 24.6 percent at end-2006. (Reuters) CEO Summit The Hellenic Management Association (EEDE) is organizing the CEO Summit, within the framework of the EFQM Forum 2007, at the Athens Concert Hall on October 1. The summit is expected to be attended by more than 300 Greek and foreign CEOs.
