Shares in companies owned by Turkish media mogul Aydin Dogan pushed Istanbul stocks to a new 2009 record on Friday, after a court ruled in favour of one of his media units in a tax collateral case. The Istanbul blue chip index closed 0.68 percent higher at 50,217, piercing the psychologically important 50,000 mark for the second day in a row and closing above that level for the first time since January 2008.
The yield on the benchmark August 3, 2011 benchmark bond was at 7.92 percent, firmer than the previous day's close of 7.95 percent. The lira closed at 1.4620 against the dollar on the interbank market, softer than the previous day's close of 1.4585. Turkey's Dogan Holding, parent company of media firm Dogan Yayin, was the third highest traded stock, closing up 12.12 percent at 1.11 lira.
Dogan Yayin closed up 13.86 percent at 1.14 lira. Dogan Yayin said on Friday that a Turkish court had ruled in favour of the firm in its challenge to a tax office demand for 915 million lira ($625 million) in collateral for a tax fine. Dogan said it expected the ruling on this demand, dating from early 2009, to set a precedent for a separate 4.8 billion lira ($3.3 billion) collateral demand for a record fine which has raised concerns about Turkey's commitment to press freedom.
"It is expected that the decision of the Court of Appeals will act as a precedent for other guarantee demands from our company and its units," the company said in a statement. However Dogan said late in the afternoon trading period it had provided collateral for a $3.3 billion tax fine to the Turkish tax office ahead of Friday's deadline. Dogan Yayin, which controls half of the Turkish private media market, has accused the government of singling it out because of critical coverage of Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's Islamist-rooted AK Party. The government denies this, but has accused the group of acting like an opposition party.