Turkish Stocks Rally Before Elections: World's Biggest Mover By Seda Sezer
July 19 (Bloomberg) -- Turkish stocks posted the biggest gain this year, lifting the country's main index to a record, on bets this weekend's elections will result in a single-party government that will maintain economic growth.
Akbank TAS and Turkiye Is Bankasi AS, Turkey's two biggest publicly traded banks, paced the advance.
The ISE National 100 Index rallied 2,213.30, or 4.3 percent, to 53,325.29 in Istanbul, the biggest fluctuation among equity markets included in global benchmarks. Eighty-three stocks gained, five fell and 12 were unchanged.
About $1.81 billion worth of shares were exchanged, more than the daily average of $1.41 billion in this month.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his ruling Justice and Development Party, also known as AKP, will retain power in the July 22 parliamentary elections, according to six opinion polls. The mostly Muslim nation of 72 million has had 21 straight quarters of economic growth and inflation is near a five-year low.
``The market is betting on an AKP victory now,'' said Vassilis Karatzas, who manages $220 million at Athens-based Global New Europe Fund SA. ``The stakes are very high.''
Turkey has attracted record foreign investment under Erdogan, whose ruling party won membership talks with the European Union in 2005. The country's economic growth has averaged 7 percent a year since 2002, compared with 1.6 percent in the countries sharing the euro.