The fluctuating course in Borsa Istanbul since mid-May was also effective on the behavior of foreign investors. In May, the portfolio size of foreign investors in Turkish equities reached a historical peak of TRY 1,95 trillion, and although the peak was renewed in July, there was a decline in August. It declined to TRY 1,94 trillion in August.
While foreign investors made net sales of USD 2.5 billion in the stock market in the first 8 months of this year, US investors made the most sales in the summer months. According to data from the Central Registry Agency, US investors’ quarterly sales exceeded TRY 63 billion, while their sales in August exceeded TRY 57 billion.
TRY 1.5 trillion in July, excluding QNB
The Central Registry Agency announces the top 10 countries with the most investments in the stock market every month. Due to QNB Finansbank, Qatar’s portfolio size changes according to the movement of the stock, so market experts prefer to look at the ranking of countries excluding Qatar. When the portfolio held by Qatar is subtracted from the total foreign portfolio, the portfolio size of foreigners, which was TRY 1 trillion 439 billion 779 million in May, peaked at TRY 1 trillion 493 billion 559 million in July. In August, the portfolio of foreigners excluding Qatar decreased by TRY 143.25 billion to TRY 1 trillion 350 billion 306 million. The highest level of foreigners’ equity investments before this year was TRY 1.5 trillion in May 2013.
After this year’s local elections, foreign investors, reassured by the economic management, accelerated their purchases of Turkish bonds and slowly started to enter the stock market. Until mid-May, the Borsa Istanbul BIST100 index continued to rise under the leadership of banking and holdings, but started to decline in June, and in July it exceeded 11,000 points and reached a historical peak. Since May, foreigners’ net transactions have always been on the selling side.
The total outflow of the three countries that stood out this year – the US, the UK and Ireland – amounted to TRY 88.55 billion in August.
What drew attention in this period was the behavior of Dutch investors. Dutch investors, who had a portfolio of TRY 101.4 billion in May, increased it to TRY 123.4 billion in July, but it dropped to TRY 110.55 billion in August. The Netherlands was the only country among the top ten countries that increased its portfolio compared to May. Austria, which was also among the top ten in May but lost this position in July, rose back to the top ten in August and increased its portfolio by TRY 1.7 billion compared to May. Cayman Islands joined the top 10 countries in July.
Net sales at USD 2,5 billion
Net sales of foreign investors reached USD 2.5 billion in the first 8 months. Foreign investors have so far made USD 216 billion 93 million of purchases and USD 218 billion 588.9 million of sales transactions in 2024. As a result, the total net sales transaction amounted to USD 2 billion 495.6 million.
