A Turkish court on Monday delayed a hearing in a case that could leave the leader of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) without his post by potentially annulling a contested 2023 congress where he was elected – a move that helped lift markets.
The initial hearing was scheduled for Monday. The court set the next session for Sept. 8.
Ankara’s public prosecutor opened an investigation in February into allegations of vote buying at the congress at which Ögür Özel, the current chair of CHP, defeated longtime incumbent Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu.
ALB Yatırım chief economist Filiz Eryılmaz said the court’s decision to delay the case was the main driver behind Monday’s market rally.
“The key point is that markets had feared a negative outcome, but that didn’t materialize,” she was quoted as saying by Reuters.
The Turkish lira traded at 39.7785 against the U.S. dollar at 11:17 a.m. GMT, compared with Friday’s close of 39.88. The lira was last at 39.765 against the greenback at 4:40 p.m. local time (1:40 p.m. GMT).
Istanbul’s benchmark BIST 100 index, meanwhile, was up 5.4% at 11:17 a.m. GMT, having risen as much as 2.7% following the court decision. The banking index was up 9.43% at the same time, after an earlier jump of 3.7%.
