Turkish Lira hits new record low on emerging market jitters

ISTANBUL – Agence France-Presse

REUTERS Photo

The Turkish Lira hit a new record low on Dec. 16 as investors moved out of emerging markets amid the collapse of the Russian ruble and fretted over the impact of recent raids against Turkish media.
      
The lira hit a record low of 2.41 lira to the dollar, worse than Dec. 15's record low of 2.39 lira to the dollar. It subsequently recovered a little to trade at 2.37 lira to the dollar.
      
Against the euro, the currency hit a low of 3.03 lira to the euro, before recovering to 2.98 lira to the euro.
      
The currency has now slumped beyond lows seen in late January when Turkey was on the verge of a full scale currency crisis, before the Central Bank intervened with an emergency interest rate hike.
      
The Dec. 14 detentions of over two dozen journalists, television producers and police officers rattled markets that were already concerned about Turkey's exposure to emerging market weakness linked to the embattled Russian ruble.
      
Sentiment on the lira turned negative on Dec. 15 after Erdoğan gave a combative speech blasting the European Union for criticizing the arrests.
      
The slide of the Russian ruble - despite an emergency rate hike - has added to concerns about the economic health of top emerging markets.