ECONOMY

Turkish lira falls 1.5 pct on Iraq concerns

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkey’s lira currency fell sharply yesterday on concerns about a possible incursion by Turkish forces into northern Iraq against separatist Kurdish rebels, while stocks underperformed emerging market peers. The lira fell around 2 percent before trimming some losses to close at 1.2045 on the interbank market, 1.5 percent weaker than Thursday’s close before a market holiday on Friday. Faced with an escalation in Kurdish separatist violence, Turkey’s government will seek parliament’s authorization this week for an anti-rebel operation into northern Iraq. «We see more weakness, but much depends on the global environment,» said Danske Bank economist Lars Christensen. «A nasty cocktail could be a combination of global profit-taking on risky assets and more tension over northern Iraq.»

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