Turkey’s lira briefly dipped to a record low and its main stock market fell 1.35% on Monday as a major earthquake added to pressures from a strong dollar and the war in Ukraine, as well as a surprise inflation reading.
The lira slipped to 18.85 , in early trade before retracing its losses to end the day flat. The main equities benchmark at one point dropped as much as 5%, with banks tumbling 5.5%, before recovering most of the losses.
Yields on local 10-year government bonds hit their highest in nearly two months at 10.2%, while Turkey’s credit default swaps, an insurance against sovereign default, jumped by 19 basis points from Friday’s close to 545 bps.
Piotr Matys, senior FX analyst at In Touch Capital Markets, said the earthquake had compounded uncertainty ahead of crucial elections likely to be held in May.
Read more: Reuters
