Turkish bond yields fall after central bank holds rates

ISTANBUL: Turkey's busiest two-year benchmark yield fell to 7.77 percent from 7.92 percent after the central bank decided against changing its interest rates at a monthly meeting on Thursday.

The lira firmed against the dollar to 1.7972 from 1.7987 before the decision was announced.

Rather than touch rates, the central bank opted to ease monetary policy gently by raising the amount of lira reserves that commercial lenders can hold in foreign currencies and gold.

The main share index was 0.27 percent higher at 65,780 following the central bank's decision, virtually unchanged from 0.7 percent rise beforehand.