ISTANBUL: Turkey’s lira rose around 1% on Thursday, extending gains from a day earlier when President Tayyip Erdogan pledged a new economic strategy, prompting traders to lock in bets of a sharp interest rate increase next week.
The worst performer in emerging markets this year, the lira touched a record low on Friday. But after the abrupt weekend departures of the central bank chief and finance minister, it has rallied some 11% this week to lead emerging markets.
The lira gained as far as 7.6830 on Thursday, some 1.5% stronger than the previous day’s close, after earlier weakening around 1% to 7.8990. It stood at 7.7250 at 1056 GMT.
The central bank raised its policy rate by 200 points in September but held steady last month, which led to a sell-off in the lira.
Turkish shares also surged this week, with the BIST100 main index rising 7.3% between Friday’s and Wednesday’s close, while the banking index rose 20%.
The share index was up around 1.71% on Thursday, the banking index up 3.65%.—Reuters