BIST Banks Index

The BIST Banks index, code XBANK, is the sector index covering banks whose shares trade on Borsa Istanbul. Depending on the classification, deposit banks, participation (interest-free) banks, and development and investment banks may be included. The index is one of the closely watched sub-segments of the Financials main sector.

By Borsa Istanbul's definition, XBANK is a capitalization-weighted price index; its value is calculated in Turkish lira and published in points. Because weights are set according to free-float value, price moves in private banks with a high free float and in state-owned banks affect the index to differing degrees.

Those tracking banking stocks follow policy rate decisions, loan and deposit growth, net interest margin, asset quality, capital adequacy and banking regulation as key variables. On Lzzo.com, the BIST Banks index comes with its historical chart, a technical indicator section and the option to compare it with individual bank stocks.