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Turkey's lira tumbled 0.7% on Tuesday, giving up earlier gains against the dollar, as investors fretted over the global spread of coronavirus and the quarantining of 132 people in Ankara who were aboard a flight from Iran. The lira stood at 6.1545 at 1050 GMT from a close of 6.1135 on Monday. It firmed in morning trading but later declined to as much as 6.1575, as worries over the conflict in neighbouring Syria also weighed.

The Turkish currency has fallen nearly 3.5% this year, in addition to losing 36% over the last two years in a slide triggered by a currency crisis in 2018.

Turkey's main stock index declined 0.4%, while the banking index was down 0.77%.

Piotr Matys, senior emerging markets forex strategist at Rabobank, said the global coronavirus concerns, compounded by Turkey's military involvement in Syria, had hit the currency.

"It is really difficult to be optimistic and what has happened in South Korea and Italy over the past few days was like a reality check for the markets that the virus is spreading," he said.

"Sentiment is still quite fragile and I think that it is way too early to declare that the worst is over for the lira and other EM currencies," Matys said, adding the decline in US stocks could spell trouble for the lira.

Copyright Reuters, 2020

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