Turkey faces runoff election as Erdogan survives first test, USD/TRY braces for fresh record high

“Turkey appeared headed for a runoff presidential election after neither Tayyip Erdogan nor rival Kemal Kilicdaroglu cleared the threshold to win outright on Sunday,” said Reuters after almost all of the Turkish votes counted on early Monday.

The news, however, adds, “Though Erdogan performed better than expected in his battle to extend his 20-year rule.”

“With more than 96% of ballot boxes counted, Erdogan led with 49.44% of votes and Kilicdaroglu had 44.86%, according to state-owned news agency Anadolu,” mentioned Reuters.

The news also mentioned that Turks also voted for a new parliament. The People's Alliance comprising Erdogan's Islamist-rooted AKP and the nationalist MHP and others appeared to have fared better than expected and be headed for a majority.”

That said, a Presidential Vote on May 28 will be crucial to overcoming the latest fears of witnessing a political deadlock.

USD/TRY bulls keep eyes on 20.00

The news keeps USD/TRY on the front foot around 19.55, which in turn challenges the all-time high marked the previous day around 19.65 and suggests a run-up towards the 20.00 round figure.