Turkish bonds weakened on Friday ahead of next week's auction of a new benchmark paper, after hovering around six-month highs this week on expectations that interest rates would stay on hold. The yield on the January 25, 2012, benchmark bond edged higher to 8.45 percent from the previous day's 8.37 percent, when the yield was around its six-month low.
The Treasury will issue a new benchmark bond maturing on April 25, 2012 on Tuesday. "We saw limited sales in the market today but this should be seen as a routine development before the issue of a new benchmark bond," one bond trader said. Turkish assets had rallied on Thursday after a Constitutional Court ruling on a government-backed reform package, which analysts said reduced the likelihood of an early election, calming investor nerves. On Friday, the main stock exchange index fell 0.34 percent to 57,150.90 points after volatile trade.
Shares of food company Dardanel Onentas Gida Sanayi AS shot up 20.49 percent after a statement from the company said it had decided to start partnership talks with an unnamed European financial firm. Turkey's top mobile phone company Turkcell lost 1.81 percent after media reports from Moscow said Alfa Finance Holdings (AFH) had regained control of 13.22 percent of Turkcell. Heavily-traded Garanti Bank fell 1.36 percent after Sabah newspaper said General Electric is looking at selling its 20.85 percent stake in the Turkish lender in parts, after an unsuccessful attempt at a block sale.
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