Turkey's stock exchange hits 5-month high

Turkey's sole stock exchange market Borsa Istanbul (BIST) rose to its highest level for five months on Friday while the compound interest rate for benchmark bonds dropped below nine percent.

Borsa Istanbul reached 75.000 points, its highest level in the last five months, and the interest rate for benchmark bonds fell to below nine percent.

These indicators suggest positive market reactions to the easing of political tension after the recent municipal elections and to remarks from Turkey's central bank regarding a possible near-term interest rate cut.

At 11am GMT on Friday, the BIST index exceeded 75,000 points - which many experts define as a difficult level to breach - for the first time since December 3 last year.

The interest rates of benchmark bonds subsided to below nine percent for the first time since December 16, 2013, then bounced back slightly to 9.1 percent to stabilize at 12.30pm local time.

The governor of the Central Bank of Turkey, Erdem Basci, said a “measured” and “gradual” interest rate cut in the forthcoming period may be considered, during a meeting on the 2014 Inflation Report on April 30. He indicated that he may revise the inflation forecast upward by one percentage point.