Turkish lira gains back value against dollar
The dollar-Turkish lira exchange rate has dropped below TL 2.90 - from 2.9401/2.9404 at 5:18 p.m. on Wednesday to 2.8975 Thursday morning before climbing back up to 2.9008/2.9020 at 11:50 a.m. again on Thursday - for the first time since Dec. 7. This is due to global depreciation of currencies as expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) will be postponing the interest rate increases.With the effects of global uncertainties and the Fed's long-anticipated rate hike, the lira kept losing value against the dollar in 2015, which was around 2.33 in January last year. In marked contrast, Federal Reserve Bank of New York President William Dudley, one of the most influential policymakers on the Federal Open Market Committee, on Wednesday poured cold water on any lingering hopes for a rate hike this year."One thing I think we can say with more confidence is that financial conditions are considerably tighter than they were at the time of the December meeting [when the Fed raised rates for the first time in almost a decade], Dudley said. "So, if those financial conditions were to remain in place by the time we get to the March meeting, we would have to take that into consideration in terms of that monetary policy decision," he added. Investors interpreted this as the Fed not wanting the dollar to appreciate.