Lira Weakens to Record as Stocks Retreat After Deadly Attack
- Turkish currency third-worst performer among peers this year
- Trading patterns in equities sending bearish signals
The lira weakened to an all-time low and stocks slid with bonds as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to escalate the government’s campaign against Kurdish separatists after a roadside bomb killed Turkish soldiers, deepening concern over the nation’s security.
The currency lost as much as much a 1.3 percent to 3.0465 per dollar before trading 0.8 percent lower at 6:04 p.m. in Istanbul and the Borsa Istanbul 100 Index dropped a second day to the lowest in two weeks. Militants from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, killed 16 and wounded six soldiers in an attack on two armored vehicles near the southeastern town of Daglica in Hakkari province on Sunday, the army said in a statement on Monday. The PKK is classified as a terrorist group by Turkey, the U.S. and the European Union.