After soaring over 100% in the last 3 weeks, Sasa Polyster Sanayi - Turkey's best-performing stock of the year - crashed 19% at the open after regulators admitted investigations into potentially fraudulent transactions.
The regulator cited trading irregularities between March 24 and May 23, when the stock more than doubled to become the top performer on the Borsa Istanbul 100 Index.
The regulator said it’s investigating potentially fraudulent transactions that may have been aimed at creating artificial trading activity. That sent shares in Sasa Polyester Sanayi AS crashing by as much as 19%, the most in more than 16 years.
Of course the solution when any market starts to drop - Turkey’s market regulator imposed a temporary ban on short-selling and online trading.
So - roughly translated - we know fraudulent behavior ramped this thing to the moon but we are not going to allow you poor Turkish investors to sell, because that would be dangerous... we are just protecting you from your irrational self.