Turkey Wake-up call: Macro, Political and Equity News

BIST added another 2.64% yesterday as the upbeat sentiment in European bourses propped up Turkish stocks alike. Weakness in lira and increased volatility following the Central Bank's direct intervention by selling dollars created some short-term moves, but the index spent almost all afternoon in the 1,850-1,855 range. Banks joined the rally this time with the 2.78% jump in their sector index. Aviation stocks, ARCLK, TUPRS, TCELL, SISE, KRDMD, ENKAI, TURSG, BRISA, and ENJSA led the non-bank gainers while TRILC, SELEC, KRVGD, and DOAS were some of the rare decliners among BIST100 constituents. Coming to this morning, our local macro agenda is muted apart from the Central Bank's previously-scheduled separate video-conferences with local and international investors at 11AM and 4PM, respectively. We anticipate a downtick open for the BIST as the mood in global markets has swung back to pessimism overnight. U.S. futures are up 0.5% in early trades in only partial recovery of their 2.2-2.5% losses after we left while Asian markets present a rather mixed picture. Lira is also weaker with the USDTRY testing the 13.52 mark vs 13.3076 at yesterday's closing bell.