Lira Extends Drop

It’s shaping up to be another rough day for Turkish markets. The lira, which sank to a record low last week as the central bank abandoned some of the policies that had underpinned it for much of this year, extended its declines Monday, dropping as much as 1.7% to trade as low as 7.4080 per dollar. The premium investors demand to buy Turkish dollar bonds instead of U.S. Treasuries increased 2 basis points to 683 basis points, according to a JPMorgan Chase & Co. index.

To add to an increasingly nervous-looking backdrop, Turkey began gunnery exercises Monday to the east and south of the Greek islands of Rhodes and Kastellorizo, potentially exacerbating tensions with Greece over maritime rights in the region.

The Borsa Istanbul introduced an index-linked circuit-breaker system following the week-long market turmoil Friday. The benchmark Borsa Istanbul 100 index tumbled the most since March last week, losing 9.5% in dollar terms.

Lira Extends Drop in Sign of Further Turkish-Market Turmoil, Bloomberg, Aug 10