Mobius under probe for 'market manipulation'

Renowned emerging markets investor Mark Mobius of Franklin Templeton Investors is understood to be under investigation by Turkey’s capital markets watchdog (SPK) over alleged market manipulation.

According to Reuters, senior SPK officials said the investigation had been requested by Turkish investors and is understood to follow comments Mobius made to reporters last week.

Reports suggest the investigation is linked to Mobius’ prediction on October 27 that there may be a 15-20 per cent market correction in Turkey by the end of the year.

Shares on the Istanbul market finished down three per cent on that day.

He said: “As I see it now we are in a bull market so any threat will be very short this year if there is a correction.”

In late September Mobius, who runs a raft of funds including the Templeton Asian Growth and Templeton Eastern Europe funds, said he was turning his attention to Nigeria and Palestine in his quest for new and exciting investment opportunities.

Meanwhile, back in March his Asian Growth fund topped Lipper's monthly equity fund flow charts for March posting net sales of €544 million.