Lira Sinks as Market ‘Baffled’ by Turkish Rate Cut; Stocks Slump
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Turkey’s lira tumbled toward the weakest close against the dollar in more than two years after the central bank unexpectedly cut its benchmark interest rate by a half point to a record. Stocks fell the most in five months.
The lira lost as much as 2.7 percent and was down 2.4 percent at 1.7357 as of 5:37 p.m. in Istanbul. A close at that level would be the lowest since March 2009. The ISE National 100 Index of shares retreated for a fifth day, losing 3.2 percent lower to 59,325.99.