Turkey's embattled currency the lira on Tuesday crashed to a new historic low against the US dollar due to higher than expected inflation figures and security worries after the Istanbul night-club attack. The lira was trading at 3.59 to the greenback, a loss in value of 1.38 percent on the day. Earlier it crashed through the 3.6 lira ceiling, the first time in history it has been this weak against the dollar.

The currency was battered by a surprisingly sharp uptick in December inflation which fuelled expectations of rate rises in January. Prices rose 8.5 percent in December from the same month the year earlier and also by 8.5 percent for the year as a whole. Prices rose 1.64 percent from November, much more than expected by analysts.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2017