Istanbul’s stock market was twice forced to halt trading and the Turkish lira continued to fall Friday as concerns deepened that recent interest-rate cuts could cause an inflationary spiral.
Turkey’s benchmark Borsa Istanbul 100 index sank 8.5% Friday in its worst day since March, triggering two circuit breakers that halted trades. The lira lost as much as 8% of its value against the dollar, despite Turkey’s central bank intervening to arrest the decline in the country’s currency.