Istanbul stocks fall 3.08% as Turkey cuts rates and consumer confidence weakens
Key Facts
Istanbul stocks fell 3.08% at the close of trading on Thursday, 22 October 2026, ending at session lows, according to EL7 coverage. Turkey's main stock index finished the session at 11,220.37 points, according to historical data published on Investing.com. The decline coincided with the Turkish central bank's announcement of an interest rate cut and a consumer confidence reading below the previous month's level. Stocks thus extended their decline into another session after the index fell 1.87% in trading on Wednesday, 21 October, according to the platform's data. The index had ended Wednesday's session at 11,577.12 points before closing lower on Thursday.
Turkey's central bank decided to cut its policy rate from 37% to 36%, according to its statement issued on Thursday. The new rate applies to the one-week repo auction, the instrument the bank designated as its policy rate in the decision. The cut also covered the overnight lending rate, which fell from 40% to 39%. On the other side of overnight transactions, the bank lowered its borrowing rate from 35.5% to 34.5%. The rate adjustments were accompanied by a central bank assessment that recent data and preliminary indicators confirmed a slowdown in the underlying trend of inflation.
On the household front, Turkey's consumer confidence index fell to 84.8 points in October from 91.9 points in September, according to Investing.com's economic calendar. The reading was released on 22 October, the same day the central bank announced its interest rate decision. In its assessment of economic activity, the central bank said "demand remains weak". That assessment was based on economic activity data and the limited pass-through of supply shocks to domestic prices. The monetary policy statement thus placed weak domestic demand among the factors underlying the decision, alongside the slowdown in the underlying trend of inflation that the bank observed in recent data and preliminary indicators.
The central bank, however, warned that higher energy prices posed an upside risk to inflation. The bank linked that risk to ongoing geopolitical tensions, which had kept energy prices elevated, according to its statement. The next official dates for monitoring monetary policy begin with publication of the central bank's meeting summary on 30 October 2026, according to the calendar published on its website. This will be followed by the inflation report on 12 November 2026, the next scheduled release date for that report. The official calendar sets 10 December 2026 as the date for the next monetary policy decision.