Turkish equities experienced a net inflow of $149mn in the week ending February 23, Turkey's central bank said on March 1.

Total outflows from the Istanbul stock exchange have amounted to $181mn since the beginning of 2018. The bourse's total equities inflow in 2017 topped $3.34bn, in line with the scope of portfolio inflows into the emerging markets universe. Consequently, Bourse Istanbul experienced many all-time highs last year.

The latest central bank data on Turkish government debt securities, meanwhile, showed a stronger inflow of $241mn in the week to February 23.

Total inflows into government debt instruments have amounted to $989mn to date this year. There was an overall inflow of $7.13bn into debt securities in 2017.

The central bank also announced on March 1 that its gross foreign exchange reserves had slightly declined once more, falling to $88.7bn as of February 23 from $90.4bn as of February 16.

Gross FX reserves stood at $92.9bn at end-2015, at $92.05bn by end-2016 and $84.1bn at end-2017.

The latest data also showed the central's bank's gold reserves declined to $25.2bn as of February 23 from a record high of $25.7bn as of February 16.

The gold reserves stood at $14.05bn at end-2016 and at $23.5bn at end-2017.

Consequently, total gross international reserves, including gold and FX reserves, declined to $113.9bn as of February 23 from $116.1bn as of February 16.

Gross reserves stood at $107.7bn at end-2017. Gross international reserves fell to $106bn by the end of 2016 from $111bn at the end of 2015.

Total FX deposits with Turkish banks declined from $209bn as of February 16 to $208.4bn as of February 23, central bank data also showed. FX deposits stood at $201.1bn at end-2017.

Residents’ total FX deposits also declined from $170.4bn as of February 16 to $170.1bn as of February 23. Residents’ FX deposits stood at $165.3bn as of end-2017.