ISTANBUL, April 7 (Reuters) - Turkish assets tracked global bourses lower on Tuesday, with the lira losing ground to the dollar after four consecutive days of gains on renewed hopes of a deal with the International Monetary Fund.
The lira traded at 1.6085 to the dollar, weaker than Monday's close of 1.5730. Earlier that day it briefly touched a three-month high, helping reign in losses so far this year for to 4.3 percent.
Last year the lira lost 25 percent of its value against the dollar.
Istanbul's main share index weakened 0.57 percent to 26,498.71 at 1244 GMT, outperforming the MSCI index of emerging market stocks which lost 1.06 percent.
"Stocks moved in line with the direction of global bourses. Banking stocks traded north at the opening but immediately attracted profit-taking sellers," analysts at Is Invest wrote in a research note.
The index of banking stocks traded down 0.9 percent, while Istanbul's most actively traded stock Garanti Bank slipped 2.24 percent to 2.64 lira on profit taking after strong recent gains.
The expected visit of IMF delegates to Turkey this month has helped support more positive sentiment about the country, and a visit by U.S. President Barack Obama has also helped spotlight Turkey's strategic importance and future prospects.
Turkey's Treasury on Tuesday sold 979.5 million lira ($608.4 million) of a new benchmark bond maturing on Feb. 2, 2011, at an average compound yield of 13.35 percent, lower than bankers' expectations of 13.45 percent.
The yield on the previous benchmark bond maturing on Nov. 3, 2010, fell to 13.41 percent from the previous close of 13.50 percent.
Talks between Ankara and the IMF were suspended in January over discord on issues such as unregistered income, the creation of a tax authority and government spending.
Government officials have said an IMF stand-by loan accord could be worth as much as $25 billion to help Turkey to cover its financing needs amid the global economic downturn. Turkey's previous $10 billion loan deal with the fund expired last May. (Reporting by Alexandra Hudson; Editing by Ron Askew)