Turkey dollar bonds rally after Trump says no decision on sanctions yet

Reuters
Updated

LONDON, July 19 (Reuters) - Turkey's dollar-denominated government bonds rallied on Friday after U.S. President Donald Trump said his administration had not made a decision on imposing sanctions on Turkey yet.

The 2040 issue was up 1.4 cents to its highest level in two weeks, according to Tradeweb data. Turkey's five-year credit default swaps eased to 377 basis points, down 6 bps from Thursday's close, according to IHS Markit data.

"At least for now, it's safe to assume that Trump will not be in a hurry to make a final decision on imposing sanctions on Turkey due to his good relationship with President Tayyip Erdogan," said Rabobank's Piotr Matys.

Trump was speaking on Thursday following a U.S. decision to remove Ankara from the F-35 fighter jet programme after it began receiving delivery of the Russian S-400 missile defence system last week.

(Reporting By Tom Arnold; Editing by Catherine Evans)