Investing.com - Political turmoil continued to pull the Turkish lira down on Friday, as the euro was also lower amid trade and geopolitical uncertainty.
The lira fell to new lows against the dollar after a meeting between Turkish and U.S. officials lead to no solution over the detention of a U.S. pastor in Turkey.
USD/TRY surged 7.81% to 5.9783 as of 4:35 AM ET (8:35 GMT) not far from an all time high of 6.1428 earlier in the session.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan brushed off concerns on Thursday, saying it was just a campaign against Turkey.
“Don’t forget, if they have their dollars, we have our people, our God. We are working hard. Look at what we were 16 years ago and look at us now,” he said to supporters in the Black Sea province of Rize.
Turkish Finance Minister Berat Albayrak is expected to reveal plans for Turkey’s economy on Friday, but concern over Erdogan’s authoritarianism and the Turkish economy have weighed on investors.
The Russian ruble was also weaker, with USD/RUB rising 0.29% to 66.8808, its lowest level since November 2016, after the U.S. imposed fresh sanctions against the Kremlin for its alleged part in poisoning a former British spy and his daughter in the UK.
The lower Turkish lira and Russian ruble pushed the euro lower, with EUR/USD falling 0.69% to a two-month low of 1.1448. Sterling was also lower with GBP/USD down 0.52% to 1.2760.
Meanwhile the U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a basket of six major currencies, increased 0.51% to 95.95.
The Australian dollar was down, with AUD/USD slumping 1.00% to 0.7298 while NZD/USD was down 0.42% to 0.6585. The loonie was lower against the greenback, with USD/CAD up 0.57% to 1.3120.