Turkish Lira, Stocks Plummet As Erdogan Widens Purge

Investors fled Turkish assets Tuesday amid reports Turkey's High Education Board ordered the resignation of 1,577 deans at public and private universities. The dollar bought 3.0320 lira in recent trade, up 1.6% from 2.9813 late Monday in New York. Meanwhile, the iShares MSCI Turkey ETF fell 4.6% to $37.22, bringing its week-to-date loss to 10.6%. The resignations are the latest step in a widening purge of Turkish institutions that is shaking investor confidence in the administration of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan following a failed coup over the weekend, said Win Thin, global head of emerging market currencies at Brown Brothers Harriman. "He's purged the judiciary, the police, the military -- now he's going after education. The way Erdogan is reacting to the coup, it seems like he's going a bit overboard," Thin said.