ISTANBUL (Reuters) - The Turkish lira strengthened three percent on Thursday before a presentation by Finance Minister Berat Albayrak to investors, shrugging off U.S. comments ruling out the removal of steel tariffs on Turkey even if it frees a U.S. pastor.
FILE PHOTO: A 100 Turkish lira banknote is seen on top of 50 Turkish lira banknotes in this picture illustration in Istanbul, Turkey August 14, 2018. REUTERS/Murad Sezer/File Photo
The currency gained some support from the announcement late on Wednesday of a Qatari pledge to invest $15 billion in Turkey and Albayrak will be looking to reassure investors in his conference call at 1300 GMT.
The lira TRYTOM=D3, still down 34 percent against the dollar this year, firmed to 5.7903 by 0908 GMT from a close of 5.95. Other Turkish markets were less buoyant: the main share index .XU100 dipped 1 percent and the 10-year benchmark bond yield rose to 21.37 percent from 21.02 percent.
After hitting a record low of 7.24 this week, the lira has benefited from central bank steps to underpin a currency hit by concerns at President Tayyip Erdogan’s influence over monetary policy and a bitter dispute with Washington.
JP Morgan said moves by Turkish authorities showed they were committed to stabilizing the currency with technical measures such as restricting foreign exchange swaps and cancelling repo auctions to push up the weighted average cost of funding.
“Yet at the same time (Turkish authorities) are reluctant to adopt orthodox policy frameworks,” JP Morgan said. “We suspect that there are diminishing marginal returns to additional technical measures so long as they are not accompanied by a fundamentally-oriented policy package.”
Investors said Albayrak’s conference call would test whether Turkey can persuade markets that its monetary policy is not
