Turkish bourse chief says foreigners still interested, calls for patience

"At peak times, 72.4 percent of the bourse belonged to foreign investors. Now it is around 69 percent. This is incredible. Foreign investors prefer to stay in the Turkish market at a time when the uncertainty and volatility remain high," Huseyin Erkan told at a conference in Istanbul.

 

Turkey's benchmark Istanbul Stock Exchange had lost 25 percent in value since the beginning of September. On Thursday, the exchange lost 5 percent more as global recession fears hit world markets.Â

 

Volatility continues and it is would not be easy to see a "light at the end of the tunnel", Erkan added.

 

"It seems there is a way to go before we reach daylight. It is obvious that there would be more regulation. I believe organized markets would overcome this period with greater ease," he said.

 

Trade volume rose on the Istanbul Stock Exchange despite a fall in its peers in Europe; increasing 7.6 fold in six years, he added.

 

"We'll have such volatility temporarily. Our investors should be patient. Of course the markets can't survive at such prices, at such low levels. Stock markets would immediately react positively once confidence is restored in the credit markets," he said.