Borsa Istanbul was the only investment vehicle to cause losses for investors in the first half of 2025
Investors who started the year with high hopes at Borsa Istanbul witnessed significant value losses after March. While the BIST 100 index fluctuated within a narrow range, stock market investors suffered losses in the first six months of the year. In contrast, gold continued to be the winning investment vehicle of the year.
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Expectations of investors at Borsa Istanbul, which made a fast start to 2025, were dashed before the first quarter ended. In particular, the total of 7.5 percentage points in interest rate cuts initiated by the Central Bank in December 2024 and continued until the beginning of March had reflected positively on the index in the new year. While investors hoped that the decline in interest rates and inflation would have a positive impact on stocks, national and international developments changed this picture.
In March of the year, the trade war policies implemented by US President Donald Trump abroad caused anxiety in global markets. Domestically, the detention of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu on March 19, followed by his arrest, deepened uncertainty in the markets. As a result of these developments, the BIST 100 index, which had approached its historical peak in a short time, fell below 9,000 points with a rapid decline of around 18 percent. There was an increase in value of approximately 3 percent in the dollar and euro.
The Central Bank resorted to interest rate hikes again after a one-year hiatus to bring the volatility in the markets under control and prevent inflation expectations from worsening further. Thus, with the BIST 100 index getting stuck in a 700-point band in the second quarter of the year, investors' losses in the stock market could not be compensated.
In the first half of the year, gold continued to earn for its investors. While the stock market became the only option among the main investment vehicles to cause losses, those who invested in gold were among the winners of the year.