The BIST 100 index, which started the day in positive territory on Borsa Istanbul, turned to a loss of over 2% following the announcement by the Minister of Treasury and Finance, Mehmet Şimşek, regarding plans to tax stock market gains.
Having ended last week with a 1.15% loss but starting this week positively, the situation changed following the morning announcement. The BIST 100 index began the week with a 0.62% rise to 10,714.07 points, but turned negative after Minister Şimşek stated during a live broadcast in the morning, “Even if not in this tax package, we are considering taxing stock market gains in the next tax package.”
By the first half of the day, the BIST 100 index had dropped by 2.33%, falling to 10,399.46 points. At 1:00 PM, the index stood at 10,399.46 points, down by 248.45 points or 2.33% from the previous close. During the first half of the day, the index saw a low of 10,392.25 points and a high of 10,743.74 points.
In the first half of the day, the financial index dropped by 2.78%, the industrial index by 2.42%, the service index by 1.84%, and the technology index by 2.60%. Compared to the previous close, only 4 of the BIST 100 stocks rose, while 96 fell in the first half of the day.
Reaction to Şimşek’s Statement – ‘If It Falls Below 10,000…’
Experts noted that the response purchases following the holiday were weak and that the BIST 100 index could not sustain above 10,800 points. They do not expect the index to permanently fall below the 10,000 level, but warned that if it does, a selling wave that could extend to the medium term might begin. They emphasized that the most disliked thing in the market was uncertainty, and the uncertainty regarding the tax issue needed to be resolved.
