ISTANBUL: Turkey’s lira touched a record low against the dollar on Wednesday, hit by investor unease over possible US sanctions, fraught ties with the European Union and the ongoing Caucasus conflict.

The currency has lost 24% of its value this year on worries over the central bank’s depleted forex reserves, costly interventions in the currency market, and geopolitical issues.

The lira hit a record low of 7.8850 against the US currency, weakening from a close of 7.8050 on Wednesday. By 1232 GMT it stood at 7.8800. Despite the tensions and financial market turbulence, Turkey sold a $2.5 billion 5-year eurobond on Tuesday that gave buyers 6.4% interest.

Turkey’s dollar-denominated bonds weakened, with the April 2043 and February 2045 issues both losing more than 1 cent on the dollar, their biggest daily fall in two weeks, Tradeweb data showed.

Five-year Turkey credit default swaps rose to 511 basis points, up 9 basis points from Tuesday’s close, according to IHS Markit.—Reuters