Turkey's lira weakened more than one percent on Tuesday as investors turned their attention to Wednesday's September inflation data and with negative sentiment in emerging markets exerting pressure on the currency. The lira has lost some 37 percent of its value against the dollar this year on concerns over the central bank's ability to rein in double-digit inflation and with President Tayyip Erdogan calling for lower interest rates to boost borrowing.
The lira weakened to 6.0404 against the dollar by 0853 GMT from Monday's close of 5.9410. It firmed as far as 5.91 on Monday, its strongest in more than a month and a half. "There is a negative mood in emerging market currencies this morning generally. We see the dollar index is a bit higher and parallel to this, the lira has lost value," a forex trader said.
Consumer prices surged 2.3 percent month-on-month in August, for an annual increase of 17.9 percent. That was its highest level since the end of 2003.