Rich minority holds majority of shares in Borsa Istanbul
The distribution of assets in Istanbul's stock exchange is dramatically skewed with 86.9 percent of wealth held by 1.3 percent of investors, daily Sözcü reported on Oct. 13. The portfolio assets of the exchange were worth a total 608.19 billion liras at the end of September, 528.15 billion liras were held by a mere 22,333 investors.
Duvar English
Istanbul's stock exchange Borsa Istanbul has seen a surge in the number of stock holders in the past year, although the distribution of capital remains highly skewed, with 86.9 percent of shares held by 1.3 percent of investors, daily Sözcü reported on Oct. 13.
According to data from the Central Securities Depository of Turkey (MKK), the number of investors in Borsa Istanbul grew by 659,614 since January, reaching a total 1,863,052 parties.
Meanwhile, the portfolio assets of the exchange were worth a total 608.19 billion liras at the end of September, 528.15 billion liras were held by a mere 22,333 investors, all with portfolio values over one million liras.
Investors holding a portfolio larger than one million liras grew the least in numbers since January, hiking up to 22,000 from 12,000, but their assets grew from 437.9 billion liras to 528.1 billion liras.
Although still extremely skewed, the distribution of the assets have improved from a year ago, when 91.8 percent of capital was held by 0.9 percent of investors.
Defined as domestic and foreign entities, real or legal, investors of Borsa Istanbul include some 78,000 bodies who are enrolled, but have not yet started trading, down from 95,000 in January.
Investors whose portfolios are worth less than 10,000 liras hold a total 1.65 billion liras, demonstrating skewed distribution once again, as they own 0.27 percent of capital as 51.3 percent of the investor body.