Turkey's Stock Exchange Gains 10%, Lira Hit New Record Low

The Turkish lira hit a new record low of 18.9 per dollar before recovering some of its losses to fall 0.2%.

The currency has fallen about 1% since the beginning of the year.

Turkey's stock index rose nearly 10% on Wednesday after five days of earthquake-related lockdowns and heavy losses last week, as government measures to support stocks appeared to be working.

The Istanbul Stock Exchange suspended trading in the stock and derivatives markets two days after the earthquakes.

Turkish authorities have pushed through new regulations including measures to stimulate corporate share buyback programmes, and to increase mandatory pension fund allocation of shares.

Several listed companies, including Turkish Airlines, and lenders Isbank, Halkbank and Vakifbank, have announced share buyback programs worth 16 billion liras since Tuesday, according to a Reuters.

Under another new law, the authorities increased the mandatory allocation of shares in the government-sponsored part of the pension plan to 30% from 10% earlier allowing 8 to 9 billion liras to flow into the stock exchange, according to TRT.