Turkey's lira trades lower after US Fed stimulus cut

The Turkish lira weakened in Thursday trade after the US Federal Reserve's decision to further cut its stimulus, undermining brief gains made on Wednesday on a big rate rise by Turkey's central bank. The currency was down nearly 2.0 percent at 2.2920 to the dollar and 3.1175 to the euro in mid-session transactions, compared with 2.25 and 3.06 at the end of trade on Wednesday. Analysts are closely watching the lira and other emerging market currencies considered vulnerable to the Fed decision, which could prompt many investors to move money out from riskier countries. The Fed said it would reduce its bond-buying programme by $10 billion a month to $65 billion, citing a pick-up in the US economy. That followed a similar announcement in December. That expected move swamped the impact of a decision late on Tuesday by Turkey's central bank to double its key interest rate to 10 percent to fight a run on the currency in part also prompted by a political corruption scandal. Anticipation of that decision had lifted the lira out of a long string of record lows to the dollar, but the government expressed opposition, fearing it could hobble growth and increase the country's public deficit. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, speaking to reporters accompanying him on a trip to Iran, said late on Wednesday: "We are going to wait a little time with goodwill and see what the conclusions are of this decision."