Turkish assests strengthen on deposit guarantee reports on Friday
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The Turkish lira currency and stocks gained on Friday, following Thursday's sharp fall, after media reports said the government would raise the state guarantee on bank deposits within a week. (UPDATED)
The benchmark Istanbul Stock Exchange index rose 3.48 percent and closed the week at 21.965 points. The index, which has lost some 60 percent of its value in 2008, fell to September 2004 lows on Thursday.Turkish TV channels on Friday reported the government had decided to raise the state guarantee on bank deposits from a current maximum 50,000 lira ($30,000) per person due to concerns of unfair competition after guarantees were raised abroad."The reason for the positive movement is the deposit guarantee news which is slightly positive, otherwise we've been trying technical levels, the lowest in four to five years, and at this point an upswing is inevitable," Alper Erginol, head of research at Oyak Invest in Istanbul told Reuters.Newspapers also reported Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan as saying the government was working on measures to boost the economy by easing access to credit and boosting employment to counter the impact of the global crisis.The lira also strengthened to 1.67 levels against the U.S. dollar from 1.70 levels of the previous day. It weakened against the dollar on Thursday after the central bank made an unexpected move to cut the borrowing rate 50 basis points and the lending interest rate 100 basis points.The yield on the benchmark June 23, 2010 bond fell slightly below 22.00 percent from Thursday's 22.55 percent.