LONDON, March 21 (Reuters) - A surprise bumper rate hike by Turkey's central bank on Thursday boosted the country's international sovereign bonds, lifted the lira off its recent lows and bolstered banking stocks. The central bank raised its key interest rate by 500 basis points to 50%, citing a deteriorating inflation outlook and pledging to keep a tight stance until...

MOSCOW, March 21 (Reuters) - The Russian rouble strengthened against the dollar, euro and yuan on Thursday, supported by high oil prices and favourable month-end tax payments, as the market looked ahead to an expected interest rate hold at 16% on Friday. By 1035 GMT, the rouble was 0.8% stronger against the dollar at 91.54 and had gained 0.3% to...

(Updates prices) By Joice Alves and Amanda Cooper LONDON, March 21 (Reuters) - The pound fell, while UK government bond prices rallied on Thursday after the Bank of England kept interest rates unchanged but sigalled the economy was moving in the right direction for it to start cutting rates. The BoE kept its benchmark rate at 5.25% - its highest...

(Updates throughout) By Joice Alves LONDON, March 21 (Reuters) - Sterling fell after the Bank of England (BoE) on Thursday kept its benchmark interest rate on hold as expected, while the Swiss franc fell to a multi-month low after the Swiss National Bank (SNB) surprised markets by cutting interest rates. The BoE's interest rate-setters voted 8-1 to keep borrowing costs...