Turkish lira extends record low in longest sell-off since 1999

Turkey’s lira fell on Tuesday, extending the longest streak of losses since 1999. The lira dropped to as low as 8.1869 per dollar. It was trading down 1.2 percent at 8.1746 per dollar at 5:11 p.m. in Istanbul. The currency has weakened for nine-straight weeks, pushing a decline this year to 27 percent. Turkey appears to be risking a repeat of a currency crisis in 2018. Analysts are laying the blame for the sell-off at the door of the central bank, pointing to its failure to raise the benchmark interest rate at a meeting last week. Instead, the bank elected to keep the rate at 10.25 percent, below current…