ISTANBUL: Turkey's lira weakened nearly 1.4% on Wednesday as far as 9.74 against the dollar but pared its losses after officials responded to rumours about President Tayyip Erdogan's health by posting images of him carrying out his work.
The lira stood at 9.6735 against the dollar at 1054 GMT, some 0.7% weaker than its close of 9.61 on Tuesday.
The currency has weakened 23% so far this year, mainly driven by what economists see as Erdogan's interference in monetary policy.
"The relation between inflation and monetary policy are the main reason for the lira's losses but market rumours have also been reflected on prices today," one forex trader said, referring to the speculation over Erdogan's health.
"We saw the lira's losses were reduced significantly after the initial decline," the person said.
Turkish lira hits record low as Erdogan sacks central bankers
Rumours spread on social media Tuesday night that events on Erdogan's agenda for Wednesday had been cancelled for health reasons. A presidential source said Erdogan's schedule had not been cancelled and that he would work from Ankara.
Communications Director Fahrettin Altun posted a short video of Erdogan walking from his car on Twitter, while another video showed him climbing stairs to board a plane.
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