Turk shares surge 10 pct
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkish shares surged 10 percent in record volume yesterday amid easing uncertainty over plans for early polls and hopes that European Union reforms may be passed before elections, brokers said. Fuel retailer Petrol Ofisi advanced 14.29 percent to 28,000 lira after the privatization administration (OIB) said late on Tuesday it was selling the remaining 25.8-percent public stake to its majority owners, Is Bank and Dogan Holding. The OIB said the sale would take place on the exchange’s wholesale market at a price of 30,000 lira. Dogan Holding, up 19.48 percent at 2,300 lira, and other group shares led the gainers yesterday. The main ISE National-100 index ended 10.13 percent higher at 10,523.72, its highest close since May 29. Trade volume of 317 billion shares was an all-time daily record. «The election date has removed the uncertainty. It looks like (Economy Minister) Kemal Dervis will stay and there will be no deviation from the (IMF) program. Plus it looks as if Parliament will assemble for the EU laws,» said Mesut Ozdinc, research manager at Riva Securities. The AK Party announced yesterday afternoon it would join forces with the biggest opposition True Path Party in a bid to recall Parliament on July 22 for a session to tackle EU-related reforms. The index had already soared around 6 percent in the morning on news of a general election on November 3 to end a painful political crisis. State-owned oil refiners Tupras were one of the busiest trades, rising 10.39 percent to 8,500 lira. Major banking shares, which were hit during the recent fall, were also among the leading gainers. Garanti Bankasi rose 16.92 percent to 1,900 lira and Akbank ended 16.85 percent up at 5,200. Gains were spread across the board as 277 out of 289 shares traded rose, only six declined and six ended unchanged. Daily turnover jumped to 965.17 trillion lira (some $580 million), the second highest daily level for the year, from Tuesday’s 361.51 trillion. Political uncertainty washed away some 30 percent of the total market capitalization of shares since the beginning of May when PM Bulent Ecevit was hospitalized with health problems which then kept him away from his desk for two months.