Turkish lira outperforms, EM forex index slips

Shafaq News / Turkey's lira jumped 1% on Monday ahead of a meeting between President Tayyip Erdogan and his U.S. counterpart, while an index of developing market currencies was on course for its worst session in over six weeks as the dollar strengthened, Reuters reported. 

MSCI's index of EM currencies fell 0.2% ahead of a U.S. Federal Reserve meeting later in the week. Investors are watching out for any mention of monetary policy tightening that could hit market appetite for risk assets.

The dollar gained sharply on Friday and held at those levels on Monday.

The lira extended gains for a fourth straight session, rising 0.5%. Erdogan said over the weekend that Turkey had raised its forex swap line with China to $6 billion from $2.4 billion.

Later in the day, he will meet with U.S. President Joe Biden in Brussels where the two are expected to discuss differences, especially Turkey's purchase of Russian S-400 defence systems which led to U.S. sanctions and ouster from NATO's F-35 programme.

Credit Suisse analysts will be watching to see if Erdogan will propose the instalment of the Russian S-400 missiles at a U.S. air base in Turkey.

"It remains to be seen whether...(this) will be adequate to bridge the gap between the two countries on this issue."

Investors will also be looking to Turkey's central bank policy meeting on Thursday, where it is expected to hold rates steady at 19%.