The news of the arrest of Ekrem Imamoglu last week triggered heavy losses in Turkey’s capital markets, as many investors appear to be losing confidence in the presidency of Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Turkish stocks experienced their worst week since the global financial crisis of 2008, with the blue-chip ISE 100 stock index losing more than 16% at the peak of the rout.
In response, Turkey’s capital markets authority banned short selling and betting on further price declines. At the same time, it eased stock buybacks to support plunging shares. While the index initially rose by about 2%, it soon turned negative again, reaching its lowest level since November.
