The Turkish lira weakened in early trade on growing anticipation that an expected central bank interest rate cut at Thursday's policy-setting meeting could exceed a poll forecast of 250 basis points. Concerns about Turkey-US tensions flaring up again also weighed on sentiment after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Monday Washington was considering imposing sanctions over Turkey's purchase of Russian missile systems.

At 0725 GMT, the lira stood at 5.7600, easing from a close of 5.7450 on Wednesday. It has weakened more than 8% this year against the US currency. The monetary policy committee decision will be announced at 1100 GMT.

Copyright Reuters, 2019