ISTANBUL: Turkish lira, shares and bonds were weaker on Monday as last week's EU summit failed to alleviate concerns about the sovereign debt crisis and investors shrugged off data showing stronger-than-expected third quarter growth.
Investors also weighed up current account data which showed the deficit fell to $4.151 billion in October from a revised $6.376 billion a month earlier, below a Reuters poll forecast of a $4.6 billion deficit.
The lira was weaker by 1 percent compared to Friday, at 1.8678 to the dollar by 1540 GMT. The lira has weakened some 17 percent against the US currency so far this year.
"Third quarter growth figures show that measures taken since November 2010 have not been as effective as desired in slowing down the growth pace. The tightening measures taken by the Central Bank since end-October confirm this position," said Elif Gulay Girgin, an economist at broker Oyak Yatirim.
"However, we observe that it's not entirely possible to achieve economic slowdown in line with the soft-landing scenario," she said.
Gross domestic product grew 8.2 percent year-on-year in the third quarter, beating a Reuters poll forecast of 7 percent. The Turkish government's medium-term programme anticipates growth this year of 7.5 percent and 4 percent next year. The IMF has forecast 2 percent growth in 2012.
First quarter growth was revised to 12 percent from an initially reported 11.6 percent. Second-quarter growth was 8.8 percent.
Data on Monday also showed the current account deficit widened to $65.057 billion in the first 10 months of the year from $33.545 billion a year earlier.
The IMF last week expressed concerns about the current account deficit, expected to amount to around 10 percent of GDP this year, and urged Turkey to adjust its policies to ensure a soft economic landing.
The yield on Turkey's new benchmark bond maturing on Dec. 4, 2013 rose to 10.31 percent from 10.29 percent on Friday.
Global stock markets and the euro slid on Monday as investors took a dim view that a plan last week to enforce greater fiscal discipline in the euro zone was enough to quell a two-year-old debt crisis.
Initial market enthusiasm on Friday faded due to the legal uncertainty surrounding the pact and the absence of a sufficiently strong financial backstop for the single currency.
Turkey's main share index fell 2.58 percent to close at 52,444.07 points, despite the boost in sports shares and underperformed the MSCI emerging markets index, which fell 1.12 percent. The Turkish index closed up 0.63 percent on Friday.
A Turkish court released from custody eight suspects in a major match-fixing case on Monday, including the coach and an executive of Besiktas, media reported, giving a boost to soccer club shares which have been hit hard by the investigation.
Shares in Besiktas surged 10.7 percent on the news, while Fenerbahce rose 5.6 percent. Galatasaray , which is not named in the match-fixing indictment, also jumped 8.4 percent.
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