In this thesis, I investigate sense-making processes in financial markets. My focus is on the role of narratives in these routine activities in digital market places or what Cetina and Preda (2007) describe as scopic market systems. I conceptualize narratives told by market professionals in these systems as another form of market device (Callon et al., 2007) which combines different modes of knowing and explanation to cope with flows of data/information and funds, and works to generate value from assets exposed to markets. From a sociological perspective, I argue that the substitution of social network-based information search and face-to-face exchange relationships in financial markets with flow-based and anonymised representations and exchange relationships do not undermine the importance of social networks in shaping sense-making and decision-making in financial markets. However to argue so, I broaden the concept of social network with the help of Bourdieu’s (1997) notion of economic, social and cultural capital. I introduce the notions of field and meta-field of power, habitus, and position-taking by Bourdieu (1997, and Wacquant 1992) to my conceptual discussion of financial markets. In light of this, I describe financial markets as hierarchical and competitive structures inhabited by different groups of investors and intermediaries and shaped by competition and conflict among these groups. I argue that these groups’ position in the field is conditioned by their economic, social, and cultural capital which are generated and sustained within and outwith the field. Consequently, I suggest that these groups’ sense-making and investment activities and their use of market devices including storytelling acts should exhibit distinctive modes in accordance with the specific positions they have voluntarily or involuntarily taken in the field. To substantiate these claims with narrative evidence, I present the case of the Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE) in Turkey. Opened in 1985, the ISE provides an instrumental case to study the role of sense-making narratives as another form of market device in scopic market systems with a Bourdieusian sociological framework. As gathered from publicly available information and early pilot fieldwork in the ISE headquarters, the ISE as a field has been occupied by three dominant investor types since 1991. These are domestic retail (DRIs), domestic institutional (DIIs), and foreign institutional investors (FIIs). These three groups have a dominant weight in either trading volume or share ownership in the ISE. Drawing on my (participatory) observations between 2008 and 2009 in an asset management company and four brokerage houses which served DRIs and/or DIIs and FIIs, I present evidence on how distinct combinations of economic, social and cultural capitals among these dominant investor-intermediary groups shape their sense-making activities and consequent sense-making stories in the ISE.

This study examines the relationship between SAHA’s corporate governance rating score and firm performance in Turkey for the period between 2008, 2009 and 2010. The purpose of study is to analyze whether there is a relationship between Saha’s corporate governance score which is based on the principles of Capital Market Board of Turkey and firm performance for 16 companies listed in corporate governance index Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE) by using Saha’s Corporate Governance. It also aims to determine this relationship by attempting to answer the question of whether better governed firms as measured by high corporate governance score have higher firm performance in Turkey. With this purpose three analyses were conducted and random effect model, one type of panel data, is used to analyze whether there is a relationship between corporate governance and firm performance. The conceptual framework for this study is a combinationan of approaches to agency, stakeholder and stewardship theory. Panel data is created as unbalanced data and random effect model is used.Accounting based performance measures of firms: return on asset, return on equity and returnon sales were used to compare with Saha’s Corporate Governance Rating Score based on four sub-indices: 1) shareholder rights, 2) public disclosure and transparency, 3) stakeholders and 4) board of directors. The results based on Saha’s Corporate Governance Score show that corporate governance does matter in Turkey. The study shows that better governed firms measured by high corporate governance score have better performance in Turkey. The result of regressing return on asset, return on equity against Saha’s corporate governance rating score indicates that there is a significantly relationship between corporate governance and firm performace. However, the result of regressing return on sales indicates that there is no statistically significant relation between Saha’s corporate governance score and return on sales.

The aim of this master&rsquo / s thesis is to estimate the return performance of insiders (persons or firms liable for announcing their transactions to the public in accordance with the Capital Markets Board decrees) from their transactions and assess whether outsiders can earn abnormal returns by following reported insider transactions. In the study, Rolling Portfolio Approach has been implemented. As a result of the analysis made, when the purchases and sales of insiders are considered together, it has been observed that they, generally, cannot earn abnormal positive returns from their transactions or that they earn positive abnormal returns in the short periods that follow their transactions. When the returns of the portfolios consisting of stocks of which the insiders are the net purchasers or net sellers are taken into consideration, it has been perceived that the portfolios made up of stocks of which the insiders are net buyers cannot earn daily positive abnormal returns or that they earn daily positive abnormal returns in the short periods following their transactions. In the meantime, net sale portfolios earn statistically significant abnormal negative returns over longer holding periods. On the other hand, it has been perceived that investors replicating insider transactions, in general, cannot earn abnormal returns by employing an investment strategy founded on following the purchases and sales of insiders together. Moreover, it has been observed that an investment strategy based on buying the stocks of which the insiders are the net purchasers does not bring abnormal positive returns or that it can bring abnormal positive returns in the brief periods after the transactions. In contrast, it has been observed that, generally, in the sample period analyzed in the study, by avoiding buying or selling stocks of which the insiders are the net sellers, outsiders can evade daily negative abnormal returns. Findings of this thesis have important implications for the efficiency of the Istanbul Stock Exchange. Results indicate that the Istanbul Stock Exchange is not Semi Strong or Strong Form Efficient.

This master thesis examines the role of foreign investors in the Istanbul Stock Exchange in three dimensions: differences among sectors and subsectors in terms of foreign trading activity, the effect of November 2000 &amp / #8211 / February 2001 crisis on returns and foreign trading activity, and the relationship between return and foreign trading activity. Data used in this thesis covers 72 months between January 1997 and December 2002. Significant differences among sectors and subsectors in terms of foreign trading activity is found. On the other hand, there is no statistically significant difference in the mean values and variances of returns on the overall market, national sector and most subsector indices before and after the crisis period of November 2000 &amp / #8211 / February 2001. However, foreign trading activity has decreased in interest-sensitive and cyclical industries and increased in defensive industries during the recession that follows the crisis. The relationship between return and net foreign trading volume relative to the total trading volume is statistically significant for the overall market and national sectors. Furthermore, we find that the effect of net foreign trading volume relative to the total trading volume on return is larger for stocks included in the ISE-30 index. The mean returns on stocks associated with negative NFV and positive NFV are statistically significantly different from each other. We further find that it is more likely to observe positive (negative) return on a stock when net foreign trading volume in that stock is positive (negative).

This thesis analyzes the relationship between stock returns and firm-specific characteristics including market beta, size, book-to-market ratio, leverage, earnings yield, net sales-to-price ratio and prior return performance in Istanbul Stock Exchange during the period 1993-2003. Moreover, the predictability of some macroeconomic variables based on the stock market return behavior is investigated.

This study employs widely excepted asset pricing models to test their explanatory power in the context of Istanbul Stock Exchange listed companies between 1990 and 2010. The risk factors, beta, size, book-to-market equity, and momentum are used to form portfolios and their factor loadings are estimated. The results of this study are mostly in line with the previous academic research, and some unique attributes of the return generation mechanism of Istanbul Stock Exchange are reported.

The purpose of this master&rsquo / s thesis is to evaluate the performance of investment companies, namely Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) and Closed-End Funds (CEFs) in Turkey. In this study, three different models are used to evaluate the risk adjusted performances of Turkish investment companies. These models are: 1) the single-factor CAPM / 2) the Fama-French three-factor model / and 3) the Carhart&rsquo / s four factor model. The results of this study indicate that for the sample period from January 1997 to December 2009, Turkish REITs and Turkish CEFs neither overperform nor underperform the overall market. Intercepts in almost all models are statistically significantly not different from zero, implying that both REITs and CEFs are earning their expected returns. The results are robust to different models used in this study. Among employed models, the Fama-French three-factor model is the best in explaining the returns on both REITs and CEFs. In general, coefficients of the size and the book-to-market equity risk factors are significant and positive. The explanatory power of the regressions does not improve with the Carhart&rsquo / s four-factor model, since momentum factors have statistically insignificant coefficients in all regressions. Findings of this study have an important implication for the efficiency of the Istanbul Stock Exchange. The inability of professional money managers to beat the overall market could be taken as an evidence in favor of the ISE being either semi-strong or strong form efficient. On the other hand, lack of skills on the part of Turkish fund managers might be another explanation for their inability to surpass the performance of the overall market.