Turkey Bans Short-Selling, Eases Buybacks to Stem Market Slide

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Ugur Yilmaz

Sun, Mar 23, 2025, 2:31 PM 1 min read

(Bloomberg) -- Turkey’s superior markets regulator imposed a prohibition connected short-selling crossed each stocks and relaxed stock buyback rules successful a bid to forestall further deterioration of the market, which saw the country’s benchmark scale tumble 17% pursuing the detention of a salient absorption leader.

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The caller rules, announced precocious Sunday, broaden a erstwhile prohibition that constricted short-selling to lone the top-50 listed companies. In addition, the regulator has allowed listed companies to repurchase shares astatine prices supra the past marketplace adjacent and reduced the minimum equity superior extortion request for borderline trading to 20% from 35%.

The moves travel successful the aftermath of the apprehension of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, a cardinal rival to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Imamoglu’s detention past Wednesday sparked a marketplace rout, sending the Turkish lira to an all-time debased against the dollar and driving enslaved yields higher. The banking stocks scale posted its steepest play diminution since astatine slightest 2001. In response, the cardinal slope raised a cardinal involvement complaint successful an unscheduled gathering connected Thursday, portion maintaining its benchmark rate.

As markets hole for Monday’s volatile league — the archetypal since Imamoglu’s arrest— the cardinal slope held talks with apical banking executives connected Sunday, according to radical acquainted with the matter. The Turkish lira was quoted astatine 37.95 per dollar successful aboriginal Asia trading arsenic of 12:09 a.m., according to Bloomberg’s BGN indicative pricing.

The measures are acceptable to stay successful spot until the marketplace adjacent connected April 25.