Turkish assets down, fluctuates after CB's action

Turkish stocks lost 2.5 percent and the lira weakened against U.S. dollar below 1.40 on Wednesday.

The yield on the government's April 14, 2010 benchmark also fell and closed over the critical 20 percent level, exceeding the 21 percent level in the day.

Cuts from the U.S. Federal Reserve, European Central Bank, Bank of England and People's Bank of China, among others, were designed to inject confidence into markets reeling from the worst financial crisis in nearly 80 years.

The moves helped pare back the steep losses that were sweeping the world earlier, but failed to erase the downward trend.

OUTPUT FALLS SHARP

Turkish industrial production that fell 4 percent year-on-year in August, much lower than forecasts, was also seen as a new blow to investor confidence.

According to a poll conducted by Reuters the output was forecasted to fall as much as 0.5 percent.

The fall in industrial production is expected to exacerbate fears of a sharp slowdown in Turkey's economic rate this year.

Market players have come to the conclusion that the world economy is entering recession, and the fall in the bourses are not limited to the financial stocks but other firms as well, traders told Reuters.

OFFICIALS EASE
Turkish officials have sought to calm investors, arguing that the global turmoil will have a limited effect on the economy thanks to far-reaching IMF-backed reforms that stabilized the banking sector after two major financial crises in 1999 and 2001.

"The rise of dollar against the lira is not at a concerning level... I believe this situation is temporary," the Turkish prime minister also said on Wednesday.

GLOBAL STOCKS DOWN
Global stock markets suffered another vicious sell-off on Wednesday in extremely volatile trade. After a calamitous day in Asia, Wall Street plunged at the open before rebounding slightly amid caution over the international bid to unblock frozen credit markets.

Frankfurt, London and Paris all tumbled by more than 4.0 percent as initial optimism over the rate cuts evaporated.

New York's Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.95 percent to 9,536 points around 1350 GMT, after plummeting 149.34 points in the first three minutes of trade.

The FTSE also sank earlier Wednesday after Britain's government had announced a 50-billion-pound part-nationalisation of the country's main banks as part of an emergency bailout package worth a total of 500 billion pounds.

Following the emergency round of rate cuts, the London FTSE lost 4.77 percent, Frankfurt fell 4.39 percent and Paris was down 4.59 percent in late afternoon European deals.

Arab stock markets tumbled for the fourth day running on Wednesday but the Saudi bourse, the region's largest, rebounded strongly after a coordinated international rate cut.