ANKARA
The Turkish lira slid to a second record low against the dollar Wednesday.
In late trading, the lira fell to 2.5673 against the dollar, with a loss of more than two percent in value since Monday. In morning trading, the Turkish lira had first hit a record low of 2.5492.
"There have been significant short-term capital outflows from the country in recent weeks," explained Bernd Berg, director of emerging-markets strategy at Societe Generale Cross Asset Research in Paris.
"The lira keeps hitting fresh new all-time lows against the dollar each day. This is driven by a very weak general backdrop for emerging market currencies these days, but mainly due to negative domestic news."
Economists also point to the U.S. dollar's strength. The dollar index, which measures the dollar against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, including Japanese Yen, rose to 95.64 Wednesday, an increase of 0.20 percent.
"All emerging market currencies tumble these days. In recent weeks, there has been a noticeable general trend of dollar strength against emerging-market currencies ahead of key U.S. data like non-farm payrolls ahead of Fed meetings," Berg said.
In the past year, the dollar has appreciated more than 17 percent against the euro, more than 13.5 percent against the Japanese yen and more than 30 percent against the Turkish currency lira.
