In Türkiye, on February 6, 2023, two earthquakes with a magnitude of 7.7 and 7.5 centered in the province of Kahramanmaraş affected 10 provinces. Thousands of people died as a result of the earthquake. After this shocking natural disaster, Istanbul Stock Exchange announced that it will suspend its operations. In the statement made by, Istanbul Stock Exchange "It has been decided to close the Equity Market and the equity and equity index derivatives markets within VIOP for 5 business days and to cancel today's transactions." it was said. According to this statement, it has been decided that all transactions made as of February 8, 2023 will be cancelled, and transactions will begin as of February 15, 2023.
After the decline in the BIST 100 index on February 8 passed the 5% and 7% limits, the Index-linked Circuit Breaker System worked. After the Index-Linked Circuit Breaker System started operating for the second time, the operations were completely stopped. In, Istanbul Stock Exchange Index-Linked Circuit Breaker System is used to minimize the loss of investors by panic transactions by being triggered by the occurrence of 5 percent and 7 percent value losses in the index instantly.
The stock market also experienced such a sharp decline on March 22, 2021. After the sharp recession, some investors demanded the closing of transactions in Istanbul Stock Exchange considering the magnitude of the disaster. It was reminded that the stock market was closed after the 1999 earthquake, which deeply affected Türkiye. After the 7.4 magnitude earthquake that occurred on Tuesday, August 7, 1999, the Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE) was closed until Thursday, August 26. In other words, there were no transactions in the stock market for 7 working days in total. Central Registry Agency Inc. According to the data of central securities depository, most of the investors in Istanbul are Adana, Hatay and Gaziantep, which are the provinces affected by the earthquake.
Bibliography
https://finans.mynet.com/haber/detay/ekonomi/son-dakika-borsa-istanbul-da-islemler-durduruldu/460642/
https://www.hurriyet.com.tr/ekonomi/borsa-istanbul-15-subata-kadar-kapali-kalacak-42217074
https://www.ntv.com.tr
https://www.haberturk.com/borsa-son-durum-borsa-neden-dusuyor-ne-oldu-8-subat-2023-bist100-borsa-kapandi-mi-ve-neden-kapandi-3563641/9
