Turkish markets marginally lower on mixed US data

ANKARA

Shares on the Turkish stock exchange fluctuated in a tight band Thursday, as mixed data from the U.S. were main drivers on a data-light trading day.

Shares in Borsa Istanbul, the Turkish market’s sole stock exchange, closed the day 0.15 percent lower at 75,852.80 points in line with negative trading sentiment seen in U.S. and EU shares.

During trading hours, Turkish shares retreated as much as 0.3 percent on the back of better-than-forecasted employment data from the U.S. Labor Department, heralding a possible rate hike as soon as September.

But the manufacturing sector purchasing managers index (PMI) announced by the Institute for Supply Management indicated a surprising weakness for the U.S. economy, which in turn eased the anxiety over a possible Fed rate hike.

After release of the PMI data, the BIST 100 recovered some lost ground to close the day marginally below its starting point.

The U.S. dollar versus the Turkish lira rate, which started trading hours at the 2.9560 level, soared to 2.9709, up 0.5 percent ahead of the U.S. manufacturing sector PMI with negative sentiment in the market. But it retreated to 2.9615 after data eased rate hike anxiety.