Market Professionals Shift Focus to Stocks and Borrowing Tools

The August Piyasa Profesyonelleri Anketi (PPA), conducted by Spinn Danışmanlık, revealed that market professionals significantly reduced their portfolio weight in TL deposits while increasing their allocation to domestic stocks, gold, and borrowing instruments. The domestic stock index rose from 108.5 to 134.8, marking the largest monthly increase (26.3 points) since the series began and becoming the most preferred asset class among nine. The preference for increasing stock weight surged from 30.2% to 60.1%, while reducing it dropped from 15.1% to 3.6%. Meanwhile, the TL deposit index fell from 119.3 to 92, dipping below the neutral level. Domestic borrowing securities saw notable improvements, with the short-term index rising from 114.6 to 122.5 and the long-term index from 102.4 to 110.5. Gold also saw a significant increase in preference, rising from 32.1% to 52.2%, with its index climbing from 108.0 to 123.9. The forex market remained stagnant, with the spot exchange index rising marginally from 104.2 to 106.2. Market professionals, amid expectations of easing from the TCMB, noted a median end-of-year policy rate expectation of 35.0%, with an average of 34.91%. Nearly 95.7% of participants expected at least one cut. These trends reflect market expectations for easing credit conditions.

Markets are interpreting these anket results, particularly the rise in stock preference and the decline in deposits, as signals of easing credit conditions. The increased allocation to borrowing instruments by long-term investors has also contributed to rising bond market activity.