Turkish lira hits new record low against dollar

Turkey’s lira hit a fresh record low against the dollar on Tuesday, as investors weighed whether the central bank would hike rates at its meeting this week to stem the decline.

The lira stood at 7.6440 against the dollar at 0600 GMT, its weakest level on record, after closing at 7.6365 on Monday.

Yesterday, the Turkish lira drifted into record low territory and touched 7.58 against the dollar, as expectations grew that the central bank would hold rates steady this week but continue to tighten credit via the backdoor.

Analysts at Goldman Sachs and elsewhere said the bank would likely raise the highest of its three main rates, the late liquidity window (LLW), from 11.25 percent at its policy meeting on Thursday.

That could help protect the lira – which is down nearly 22 percent this year – from a more dramatic fall but probably only delay a formal hike to the 8.25 percent key policy rate, they said.

(Reuters)