Turkish bonds, lira flat after debt auction; Turkcell up

ISTANBUL, March 12 (Reuters) - Turkish bond yields and lira steadied on Tuesday after a debt auction that produced a yield close to expectations. In the stock market, Turkcell rose on the appointment of independent board members. By 1517 GMT, the lira was at 1.8025 to the dollar , virtually unchanged from 1.8020 late on Monday. Against its euro-dollar basket it weakened to 2.0770, from 2.0724. Turkey's treasury issued a 15-month zero-coupon bond at an average compound yield of 5.71 percent, close to a Reuters forecast of 5.67 percent. The yield on the two-year benchmark bond closed at 5.81 percent, only one tick away from Monday's close at 5.82 percent. Istanbul's main share index closed up 0.27 percent at 83,347.54 points, slightly outperforming a fall of 0.5 percent in the global emerging markets index. Shares in Turkcell closed up 3.03 percent after the state Capital Markets Board appointed three independent board members. A long-running share dispute has prevented the mobile phone company's board from meeting or distributing dividends for two years. (Writing by Seltem Iyigun; Editing by Ruth Pitchford)