Turkish lira falls to record low against US greenback

Turkish lira falls to record low against US greenback

Turkey’s lira weakened after Recep Tayyip Erdogan a presidential runoff election on Sunday, extending his time as the nation’s longest-serving leader and leaving investors looking for any signs he’ll start to relax the state’s tight grip over markets. The lira as much as 0.3 per cent to 20.03 per US dollar, near a record low, before trading at 20.01 as of 6:40 a.m. in Istanbul. Wall Street sees more weakness ahead for the lira, with Morgan Stanley warning that it may reach 26 per dollar sooner than earlier expected and slide toward to 28 by the end of the year, should Erdogan stick to his policy of keeping interest rates low. Wells Fargo expects the currency to hit 23 by the end of the quarter. “An Erdogan win offers no comfort for any foreign investor,” said Hasnain Malik, a strategist at Tellimer in Dubai. “With very high inflation, very low interest rates, and no net foreign reserves, a painful crisis affecting all assets could be on the way.” Erdogan easily cinched victory in the second round, winning 52 per cent of the vote according to the unofficial count, and shortly after 8pm on Sunday was delivering a victory speech from