Bonds were flat in early over-the-counter trade as Turkish markets focused on the July current account balance and second quarter growth data due for release at 10 a.m. (0700 GMT). The top German official at the European Central Bank resigned last week in disagreement with the bank's policy of buying euro zone government bonds to combat the currency bloc's debt crisis. The lira stood at 1.8020 versus the dollar by 0530 GMT on the interbank market from a previous close of 1.7750. "The weakening of the lira is related to the EUR/USD moves. The lira's loss against the (euro/dollar) basket is only 0.30 percent," said Tufan Comert, strategist at Garanti Securities. The lira traded at 2.1217 versus a euro/dollar basket compared to its all time high of 2.2115 in early August. "Today liquidity in the market is tight which is why we could see the lira weakening above the 1.8100 level versus the dollar during the day. I expect the central bank to increase the volume of its daily forex-selling auction," said a forex trader of a bank in Istanbul. July's current account deficit is forecast to have risen 53 percent year-on-year to $5.475 billion, according to a Reuters poll of 19 analysts, although that would mark a significant fall from June's figure of $7.55 billion and make it the lowest monthly deficit since last October. Turkey's economy grew 6.4 percent year-on-year in the second quarter of 2011, according to the median forecast in a Reuters poll of 18 analysts, slowing from 11 percent growth in the first quarter as industrial output lost steam and domestic overheating worries gave way to fears of a possible global recession. The benchmark May 15, 2013 bond yield remained flat in early over-the-counter trade on Monday at 7.92 percent, unchanged from its closing level on Friday. The benchmark yield fell to 7.81 percent after ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet on last Thursday highlighted downside risks to economic growth in the euro zone and signalled future rate hikes are off the table. "Today the swap rates should decrease due to the dollar liquidity tightening on the market. I expect the decision of the central bank about reserve requirements to have some positive effects and limit the possible selling even if sentiment worsens," said a fixed income trader of a bank. Turkey said on Monday it was allowing a maximum of 10 percent of banks' lira reserve requirements to be held in dollars and, or, euros, according to an announcement in the state's Official Gazette publication. "If there's no significant move in the lira, I think we will trade in the 8.00-7.90 band today," he added. The benchmark Istanbul share index closed down 1.39 percent to 55,902.98 on Friday.