How can I invest in the Turkish Stock Market?

How can I invest in Turkish stocks or stock market? If you have been trying to find out how to get some exposure to one of the biggest emerging markets, Turkey, I have some answers for you. There are a couple of ADRs and a closed-end fund trading (bkz. definition of insider trading) in New York which will help you get real exposure to Turkish stocks. Turkey is one of the more promising emerging markets out there with a nearly $650 billion economy and more than 70 million people. Even though Germany and France drag their feet to accept Turkey as a full member of the EU, within a decade they will be begging Turkey to join and save them from their aging population and shrinking labor market misery.

The broadest vehicle you can use to invest in Turkish stocks is a closed-end fund managed by Morgan Stanley: Turkish Investment Fund (TKF). Your second option is the country’s largest mobile phone operator Turkcell (TKC) with a market cap of $13 billion and a P/E ratio of 11. It is also a high dividend paying stock. Third, you can use a lightly traded over the counter stock: AKBTY. Don’t let this fool you, Akbank is the biggest and one of the safest banks in Turkey with a market cap of more than $21 billion. American investors have not discovered Turkish stocks yet. Your fourth option is a diversified holding company which is owned by the richest family of Turkey, Koç Holding (KHOLY). It’s market cap is$8.7 billions. Your fifth option and one of my favorite stocks in the past (I almost tripled my investments with this stock) is called Garanti Bankası (TKGBY) which is challenging Akbank to be the largest bank in Turkey with a market cap of over $21 billions.

These 5 stocks traded on US exchanges will be more than enough to get exposure to Turkish stocks. Considering that Turkish economy is growing at an average annual rate of 10% in the last 6 months of 2009, I think investors in Turkish stocks are already delighted with their investments.

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