Impact of COVID-19 on the Daily Returns of Istanbul Stock Exchange

The purpose of the article/hypothesis: The measures taken by the governments to fight Covid-19 such as social distancing and lockdowns not only crippled the social life, but also the economies of their countries. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the Turkish economy. The authors used the Istanbul Stock Exchange Index which is a sort of barometer to measure the health of the economic and financial system in Turkey. The aim of the paper is to show the impact of Covid-19 together with the risk in the global market, exchange rates and government responses to the pandemic on the Istanbul Stock Exchange. Methodology: The authors analyzed the impact of the pandemic studying the relations between the Istanbul Exchange and a number of deaths due to Covid-19 together with VIX index, the Government Response Index and exchange rate of USA dollar/Turkish Lira with Toda-Yamamoto Causality test. Results of the research: The results suggest that the number of deaths due to Covid-19 and exchange rates cause the loss in value in the Istanbul Stock Exchange while VIX index and the Government Response Index are found to be ineffective in explaining the volatility in the ISE.