By Daren Butler
ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish police said on Thursday they had launched an investigation into alleged market manipulation at the Istanbul Stock Exchange, reportedly detaining dozens of people, including two company chairmen.
Some 40 people were detained in the major western cities of Istanbul, Izmir and Ankara, state-run Anatolian news agency reported.
Few details emerged on the inquiry at the major emerging market bourse, but an official at the financial fraud section of the Istanbul police, who declined to be named, confirmed to Reuters that an operation had been launched.
He declined to say how many people were being held.
"I have been unable to obtain much detailed and satisfactory information but I presume that this is an investigation into an old matter," a senior broking industry source who declined to be named told Reuters.
"If that is the case I don't think the matter is of a scale to threaten the sector or the existence of brokerages," he said.
Among those detained were the chairmen of one Turkish travel company and a food company, reported broadcaster CNN Turk. Nobody was available at either company to comment on the report.
A list of 54 people had been compiled after a month-long investigation and police were detaining those on the list, broadcaster NTV said.
Turkish financial authorities have carried out investigations in the past into irregularities at the stock exchange, but rarely on this apparent scale.
REPORTS SHRUGGED OFF
The IMKB, founded in 1986 and where several hundred Turkish companies are traded, declined to comment.
Financial markets shrugged off reports on the probe.
At 12:23 p.m. British time the market's main share index was 3.0 percent higher, supported by foreign markets, higher than it was in the morning session when news of the investigation emerged.
Investor interest in the Turkish stock market, which rose strongly in recent years, has been hit by waning risk appetite since the world economic crisis started to hit last year.
The main share index halved in value in 2008 and is trading slightly lower so far this year.
The police's organised crime department launched the operation on the instructions of the chief prosecutor's office in Istanbul, NTV said.
"We have a situation where investors are concerned," Ali Bahcuvan, chairman of the Stock Market Investors Association, was quoted as saying by Anatolian.
(Reporting by Istanbul newsroom; Editing by Greg Mahlich)