Banking and airline stocks led a more than 4% rise in Turkish shares and the lira was on track for a rare daily gain on Wednesday, as the two-week Middle East ceasefire sparked a relief rally across global markets.
At 0823 GMT, Türkiye's blue-chip BIST 100 index was up 4.3%, while the banking index rose 8.8%. Shares in airline carriers Turkish Airlines and Pegasus climbed more than 6% each.
The United States and Iran have agreed to a two-week ceasefire and Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said in a post on X that he had invited Iranian and US delegations to meet in Islamabad on Friday.
The lira traded at 44.5400 against the dollar, strengthening from Tuesday's close of 44.6065.
The currency had lost about 1.5% in value since the US-Israeli strikes on Iran began at the end of February. With a year-to-date loss of 3.6% and inflation reaching to 10% in the first three months of the year, the lira has gained in real terms.
Before the two-week ceasefire agreement, economists had been expecting the central bank to reflect a cumulative 300 basis points of tightening delivered via liquidity measures in the main policy rate, which stands at 37%.
Markets are now watching whether the two-week ceasefire evolves into a more permanent arrangement, which could reshape expectations for policy tightening at the central bank's next monetary policy committee meeting on April 22.
