Stock market transaction volume more than doubles

Turkish stock exchange markets' transaction volume increased by 2.5 times to hit a record 5.2 trillion Turkish Liras (around $700 billion) in the first quarter of 2020.

The main reason behind the sharp increase in the volume registered in the first quarter was the transactions carried out by local investors, said a report by the Turkish Capital Markets Association (TSPB).

"Local investors' transaction volume amounted to 3.8 trillion liras in January-March, rising 145 percent from the first quarter of 2020 while foreign investors' transaction volume declined by 157 percent on an annual basis to 1.8 trillion."

Some 74 percent of the transaction volume was carried out by domestic investors and 26 percent by foreign investors.

The average U.S. dollar/ lira exchange rate was 7.39 during the first quarter of 2021.

The share of transactions made online in total increased to 58 percent in the first quarter from 50 percent a year earlier, according to the report.

In line with the increase in trading volume, revenues of brokerage firms leaped 111 percent in the first quarter compared with the same period of 2020 to stand at 3.3 billion liras.

According to the TSPB report, there were a total of 61 brokerage firms in Turkey as of end-March, operating 289 branches, up from 271 a year ago. Those firms hired 861 new personnel and the number of total employees climbed to some 5,900 people.

Stock market, Economy, foreign exchange,