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Turkey stocks slump with lira as premier urged to quit

Turkey’s main stock index slid to the lowest level in almost four months and the lira erased gains after a third minister quit in response to a corruption probe and urged Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to quit.

The Borsa Istanbul 100 Index fell 2.9 per cent to 67,004.80 at 3:24pm in Istanbul, the lowest level since September 6.

The currency weakened 0.5 per cent to 2.0876 per dollar, having gained as much as 0.7 per cent earlier.

The 10-year bond yield rose nine basis points, or 0.09 percentage point, to 10.18 per cent, the highest level since August.

Environment and Urban Works Minister Erdogan Bayraktar resigned, saying in an interview with NTV television that Erdogan should step down as well since all of his actions were done with the prime minister’s approval.

“The markets turned sour after Erdogan Bayraktar’s statement,” Murat Yardimci, the head of trading at ING Bank in Istanbul, said in e-mailed comments.

“He said the prime minister should resign as well and the market slumped amid lack of liquidity,” he added.

The lira had rebounded on Tuesday from a record low of 2.0992 after the central bank said it will sell at least $3 billion by year-end and a similar amount, at least, next month to support the currency. The bank was to auction at least $450 million yesterday.