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Lira Tumbles to Record as Lack of Central Bank Action Fuels Rout

Lira Tumbles to Record as Lack of Central Bank Action Fuels Rout

(Bloomberg) -- Turkey’s lira slumped to a new record as hopes faded that the central bank may step in to rescue the battered currency.

The drop accelerated during thin liquidity in Asian hours as Japanese traders cut their losses, with the currency falling more than 5 percent, the most since October. The country’s stock exchange converted its foreign-exchange assets in an effort to support the lira.

Lira Tumbles to Record as Lack of Central Bank Action Fuels Rout

“When retail investors capitulate -- as it’s been the case overnight when Japanese margin traders decided to cut their mounting losses on their long lira positions against the yen -- one could argue that it is a contrarian signal that perhaps the worst is over,” said Piotr Matys, an emerging-market currency strategist at Rabobank in London. “But it is crucial that the central bank acts quickly and decisively by announcing within the next few hours that it will hold an emergency meeting due to the latest market developments.”

The lira weakened as much as 5.5 percent against the U.S. dollar, hitting a record low at 4.9253. It traded 4.7 percent lower at 4.8861 per dollar by 11.30 a.m. in Istanbul. A break below the 24-yen level for the first time on Tuesday led to the Japanese selling and pulled down other emerging-market currencies on Wednesday.

‘Speculative Approaches’

There’s no economic data that justifies the lira’s current depreciation, the country’s stock exchange Borsa Istanbul said in a statement, citing “speculative approaches” before elections next month that it said are aiming to show Turkey’s economy in a negative light.

“As an indication of our confidence in the Turkish lira, our exchange’s foreign-currency assets, excluding short term needs, have been converted to lira as of today,” it said.

Many analysts argue that with the lira’s steep decline, the central bank may have to move before a scheduled meeting on June 7 to support the market.

“Only a few weeks ago I would have argued that 200 basis points should have been sufficient, but following such significant depreciation the central bank may have to seriously consider at least a 400-basis-point hike to restore confidence in the lira,” said Matys. “Even that may not be enough if Governor Cetinkaya is not fully supported in his attempts to stabilize the currency by prominent Turkish officials.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Tugce Ozsoy in Istanbul at tozsoy1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ven Ram at vram1@bloomberg.net, Neil Chatterjee

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