CURRENCIES: Turkish Lira Falls Against Dollar As Spat Weighs, While Pound Stabilizes

Disagreement comes after Turkey arrested a Turkish employee at the U.S. Consulate in Istanbul

Turkey's lira was sharply lower against the U.S. dollar on Monday, albeit off its worst levels of the day, as a disagreement between the two NATO allies weighed on the currency.

Meanwhile, the pound gained modestly on the buck, stabilizing somewhat after a punishing start to the month.

Where are currencies trading?

On a broad level, the dollar was little changed, with the ICE U.S. Dollar Index -- which measures the currency against six major rivals -- roughly flat at 93.807.

The Turkish lira recently traded hands at 3.6953 per dollar, after earlier moving to 3.8352, according to FactSet data. The currency was at 3.6149 per dollar late Friday in New York.

The pound was at $1.3108, up from $1.3069 late Friday.

What's driving the market?

The U.S. and Turkey on Sunday stopped issuing nonimmigrant visas (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/turkish-lira-tumbles-amid-visa-spat-with-us-2017-10-08) to each others' citizens on Sunday, in a development that could affect thousands of travelers. Neither embassy explained what recent events precipitated the actions, but they come after Turkey arrested a Turkish employee at the U.S. Consulate in Istanbul, a Wall Street Journal report said (https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-halts-nonimmigrant-visa-processing-in-turkey-1507490971?mod=mktw).

The British pound was drawing a little buying after dropping last week as U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May delivered a speech labeled as "disastrous," (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/uk-leader-theresa-mays-slogan-literally-fell-apart-during-her-disastrous-speech-2017-10-04) leading to talk that her days in the top job are numbered. The turn of events has added additional uncertainty to Brexit, the U.K.'s planned exit from the European Union.

Read: Sterling has a long way to fall, as snap election risks mount in the U.K. (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/sterling-has-a-long-way-to-fall-as-snap-election-risk-mounts-in-the-uk-2017-10-05)

What are strategists saying?

"Sterling is looking to be an outperformer today as it would appear that the U.K.'s ruling Conservatives are yet to tear themselves apart," said Richard Perry, a Hantec Markets analyst, in a note.

What are other currency pairs doing?

The euro traded at $1.1730, little changed from $1.1732 late Friday in New York.

The dollar was not making big moves against the Japanese yen , buying Yen112.67 versus Yen112.64 late Friday.

Cryptocurrency bitcoin was down modestly to $4,578.89.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 09, 2017 04:29 ET (08:29 GMT)