Turkish lira almost hit 5TL against the US Dollars

The Turkish Lira took a fresh dive on Wednesday as Asian investors joined the sell-off in the lira as fresh bout of geopolitical uncertainties weighed on emerging assets.

Having tumbled to record lows in recent weeks, the Turkish Lira suffered another steep drop, falling more than 5 percent against the dollar to hit a new record level of 4.9290, edging closer to the psychological level of 5 to the dollar.

Suffering from a gaping current account deficit, double-digit inflation and comments from President Tayyip Erdogan who has called himself the “enemy of interest rates”, the lira has been in the cross hairs of the emerging market sell-off, on track for its worst weekly and monthly performance in a decade.

Adding to the woes was a bout of selling by investors in Asia, which saw the lira tumble more than 6 percent against the yen.

Investors have also been unnerved by the lack of action by Turkey’s policy makers, despite news that Ankara’s economic team met at the start of the week to discuss potential measures, including possible central bank steps.

Currencies elsewhere also suffered. South Africa’s rand, Russia’s rouble and Mexico’s peso all weakened 0.5 percent against a perky dollar.