BIST 100 Hovers Near Records: Liquidity Shifts Toward Real Estate Investment Trusts and Commodities

As Turkish equity markets concluded the final trading day of the week with positive momentum, the search for stabilization in macroeconomic indicators and exchange rates continues to sustain investor appetite. The BIST 100 index completed Friday, August 28, 2026, with a 0.45% gain, closing at 14,641.56 points, maintaining its trajectory near historic highs. Testing a daily low of 14,511.04 points, the index managed to close at its daily high of 14,641.56 points, driven by late-day buying interest.

Sectoral Divergence Under the Shadow of Massive Volumes

While the total trading volume on Borsa Istanbul was shaped under the leadership of locomotive stocks, the performance of Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) stood out on a sectoral basis.

■The most heavily traded stocks of the day were TEHOL with TRY 17,016,430,478, THYAO with TRY 12,887,324,596, and ASTOR with TRY 11,475,147,653.

■MAALT, PSDTC, and PRZMA emerged as the top gainers, whereas HEDEF, DSTKF, and KPEKS finished the day with the steepest losses.

■On a sectoral level, chemical, petroleum, plastic, electricity, and notably real estate investment trust (REIT) indices closed the day in positive territory, while sports, IT, and technology stocks faced profit-taking.

Tight Range in Forex and Gold: The Latest in Safe Havens

Global inflation concerns and uncertainties regarding central banks' interest rate paths continue to bring volatile movements in foreign exchange and precious metals.

■The USD/TRY exchange rate closed with a limited increase of 0.25% at 48.25 TRY, while EUR/TRY retreated by -0.25% to 56.01 TRY.

■Spot gold fell -0.83% to $4,561 per ounce in global markets, dragging domestic Grand Bazaar gram gold down by -0.70% to 7,072.90 TRY.

■Quarter gold was traded at 11,315.12 TRY (bid) and 11,564.18 TRY (ask), while the Republic gold coin stood at 46,115.28 TRY.

■In energy markets, Brent crude stabilized at $89.40, while in the cryptocurrency market, Bitcoin was traded at $79,405 and Ethereum hovered around $2,505.93.

The positive performance of the Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) sector on Borsa Istanbul indicates that an alternative financing avenue is opening up for the housing market, which has been squeezed by high interest rates. In this period where traditional home sales are suppressed due to high borrowing costs, institutional investors and retail portfolios turning towards REIT shares provides a critical subsidization mechanism for funding large-scale real estate projects. In the upcoming period, with the anticipated start of the interest rate easing cycle, I foresee that this liquidity flow will directly and positively reflect on mega construction projects and residential sales figures.