Mysterious bourse ‘dude’ may be from Gulf: Sources

Hülya Güler - ISTANBUL

REUTERS Photo

A number of different claims have emerged over the identity of mysterious investors who are said to be responsible for massive transactions in Turkish markets following a Bloomberg News report on March 11. 

According to sources reached by daily Hürriyet, Gulf capital is likely behind these huge transactions. 

A mystery investor, dubbed “the dude,” who first appeared a year and a half ago with $450 million of bets on a single day, almost double the market average, is now claimed to be executing huge transactions with increasing frequency, Bloomberg News had reported. 

This “dude” is not believed to be an individual but rather a group of people who know the Turkish markets very well and use sophisticated algorithmic systems. In the last couple of months, Turkish markets have performed quite positively compared to other emerging markets, with the country’s main stock exchange seeing above 80,000 points and the Turkish Lira reaching 2.87 against the dollar - from over 3.00. 

In the last 20 days, over $1.3 billion of hot money has flown to the Turkish markets. 

“This huge amount of money most likely comes from the Gulf countries, mainly from the United Arab Emirates,” sources told daily Hürriyet. 

Daily Habertürk had claimed “the dude” was an Indian manager of a London-based hedge fund in a report on March 12. 

“There’s a giant bull in the china shop,” said Kerem Baykal, a fund manager who oversees about $610 million at Ak Portföy, in the Bloomberg report.

“He’s got deeper pockets than anyone else in the game and can move the market in any direction,” Baykal added.

The biggest fear now among market players is the sudden disappearance of this “hidden hand,” which has pushed up the markets and the currency, according to sources.