ISTANBUL: Turkey’s lira surrendered earlier gains on Thursday as investors kept a cautious eye on geopolitical developments regarding the eastern Mediterranean and the conflict between Turkish ally Azerbaijan and Armenia.

The lira was flat at 7.7440 against the dollar at 1125 GMT. Earlier it rose about 1% to 7.64 amid a wider recovery in emerging markets, and after authorities rolled back some measures taken at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The lira hit a record low of 7.8555 on Tuesday, bringing its losses so far this year to 24% as it suffers from concerns over depleted forex reserves, costly state interventions in FX markets, and negative real interest rates.

It rebounded following the release of an optimistic medium-term economic programme and decisions to reduce taxes on forex transactions and bank deposits.

A survey on Thursday showed Turkey’s manufacturing sector continued to recover in September, but with the headline PMI declining to 52.8 from 54.3 in August.—Reuters