LONDON (Reuters) - A plummeting Turkish lira sent ripples through global equities and emerging markets on Friday, as rising fears of a wider fallout sent investors scurrying for the safety of assets such as the yen and U.S. government bonds.
A vendor gets a five Euro bank note from a customer at the central market in Athens, Greece, July 8, 2015. REUTERS/Christian Hartmann/File Photo
The lira fell as much as 12 percent against the dollar earlier in the day, its worst day since Turkey’s financial crisis of 2001, on the back of a deepening rift with the United States, worries about its own economy and lack of action from policymakers.
The currency is down more than 35 percent this year, its losses accelerating as the dollar jumped to 13-month highs
That is spreading fear of an impact on other economies and markets — bank shares across the continent fell and the euro slipped to its lowest since July 2017 as the Financial Times quoted sources as saying the European Central Bank was concerned about European banks’ exposure to Turkey.
Shares in France’s BNP Paribas, Italy’s UniCredit and Spain’s BBVA, the banks seen as most exposed to Turkey, fell as much as 4 percent.
That took European bank shares down 1.3 percent while the pan-European STOXX 600 index fell 0.7 percent. [.EU]
The MSCI All-Country World index, which tracks shares in 47 countries, was down 0.6 percent on the day, having erased all its gains for the week. Wall Street was set for a weak open.
“People looking at things this morning are much more aware that there is central (major)
