Turkish Stocks Rise, Lira Gains on Merrill Lynch Upgrade

Turkish shares outpaced emerging markets peers on Friday after Merrill Lynch upgraded Turkish stocks to overweight from underweight, while the lira firmed against the dollar.

‘The market is looking attractive on valuations,’ Bank of America Merrill Lynch said in an e-mailed report which also cited expectations that the country’s current account deficit, its main economic weakness, would narrow.

The main stock index closed up 1.36 percent at 74,064.98 points, outperforming a 0.14 percent fall in the wider emerging markets index.

The lira gained against the dollar to 2.0410 by 1700 GMT from 2.0442 late on Thursday.

The yield on the 10-year benchmark bond was trading at 9.53 percent in thin trade.

Source: Reuters