Originally published October 17 2005
Turkish economy already feels the effects of bird flu
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
The benchmark IMKB index finished 3.2 percent down in Istanbul, after the European Union confirmed a virus found in Turkish poultry is the same type that has killed sixty people in Asia.
Brad Durham, managing director of the fund-research firm EmergingPortfolio.com, said that while the bird-flu news is hurting sentiment Turkey is also suffering from the fears about inflation and U.S. interest-rate hikes that have weighed across global markets in the past few days.
E.U. officials said earlier that there is a direct relationship between the virus found in Turkey and those found in Russia, Mongolia and China.
It's the first case of H5NI in Europe; the virus has killed about 60 people in Asia since it emerged two years ago, all of them people who worked with poultry or came into close contact with infected birds.
Turkish health officials said about 7,600 birds have been slaughtered as the country seeks to contain the outbreak.
H5N1 is a subtype of the H5 group of flu viruses, which itself is one of three groups (H5, H7 and H9) that affect birds.
In New York, the Turkish Investment Fund, which tracks the performance of the Turkish stock market, closed down 4.8% at $18.49, having earlier fallen to a low of $18.00.
The fund has lost 16% of its value since closing at an all-time high of $21.76 on Oct. 4, the day the E.U. launched accession talks with the Turkish government.
TurkCell Iletisim Hizmetleri (TKC: turkcell iletisim hizmetleri spon adr new News, chart, profile Last: 13.25+0.18+1.38% 4:02pm 10/17/2005 Add to portfolio Analyst Create alert Insider Discuss Financials More TKC TKC13.25, +0.18, +1.4%), the only U.S.-listed stock of a Turkish company, ended up 3 cents at $13.15, having spent most of the session in negative territory.
EmergingPortfolio's Durham said that if the scare proves a temporary worry for the market, investor attention will refocus on Turkey's solid fundamentals; single-digit inflation, the highest gross domestic product growth in the world, and budgetary discipline.
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