Turkey's bid to stop lira rout may return to haunt it

ISTANBUL: While Turkish authorities may have stopped the lira from haemorrhaging, their measures may cost the nation’s debt and equity markets.

By squeezing liquidity out of the offshore currency swap market, the banking regulator forced speculators betting against the lira to close their positions.

That also made it much harder for foreign investors in local bonds and stocks to hedge their currency risk. Now, it looks like they’re bailing.

The yield on five-year local currency bonds jumped more than 250 basis points last week and the stock index led global losses.

That’s a sign that stop-gap actions to stem the currency slide had unintended consequences, even as the lira recovered.

“The risk is you’re throwing the baby out with the bathwater,” said Anders Faergemann, a fund manager at PineBridge Investments in London.

“If you hold Turkish assets you’re now unable to hedge the currency. We saw that in Malaysia last year and it creates uncertainty. If you can, you’re probably going to sell your local bonds. We’re seeing the same thing in the stock market.”

Foreign investors exchange their US dollars and euros with liras held by local banks through forward agreements to take directional bets on the currency, as well as to hedge their exposure to the country.

So when the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency capped local lenders’ swap and swap-like transactions to just 25 per cent of shareholder equity on Wednesday, liquidity began to dry up, rates surged and many investors had little option but to offload their holdings.

The currency fell on Friday as the prospects of further US sanctions and downgrades by S&P Global Ratings and Moody’s Investors Service spurred uneasiness before Turkish markets close for a week-long public holiday.