Foreign investors made net sales valued at $248 million in July after net purchases continued for three consecutive months, according to the data released by the Borsa Istanbul Stock Exchange. The total transaction volume of foreign investors on the stock market hit the lowest level at $10.9 billion in July since February 2014. Their purchase transactions stood at $5.4 billion in July and sale transactions were realized at $5.6 billion. The BIST 10 Index lost 2.84 percent of its value in July. Analysts said the reason foreign investors started to sell in July is that a coalition could not be formed after the general elections in June and the U.S. Federal Reserve may increase interest rates in September.

When transactions of foreign investors in July were examined, it was revealed that they preferred the shares of Turkish Airlines (THY) the most, with net purchases valued at $37.5 million. Other shares that foreign investors purchased the most after THY were Turkcell, Petkim, Arçelik and Halkbank, respectively. The shares of two big banks, on the other hand, topped the list of net share sales in July. Shares of Garanti Bank and İş Bankası came first and second with $77.1 million and $64.3 million of net share sales, respectively. They were followed by Erdemir, Ülker and Akbank, respectively.