The Turkish lira firmed to below 2.82 against the U.S. dollar after Turkey announced great economic growth and strong GDP data on Thursday.

The lira became its strongest since Nov. 20 as the dollar hovered near a 5-month-low against the euro. It fell after reduced expectations for near-term interest rate hikes from the U.S. Federal Reserve, particularly after comments from Fed Chair Janet Yellen.The euro rose to $1.1384 and the yen hovered at 112.53 to the greenback, leaving the six-currency dollar index on track for its biggest monthly fall since April 2015 and largest quarterly drop in five years.Bond yields declined during the quarter as investors reduced expectations for rate increases from the U.S. Federal Reserve and central banks in Europe and Japan added to stimulus efforts. The U.S. Barclays Aggregate bond index has returned 2.78 percent in the first quarter.European markets were hit, with shares down 1 percent on Thursday. Euro zone inflation data was muted , underscoring just why the European Central Bank is cranking up its stimulus efforts.Sterling has also taken a pounding this year as concerns have grown about a potential British exit, or 'Brexit', from the European Union. It barely budged on Thursday but has seen its biggest quarterly tumble in 6-1/2 years against the euro .This year's turbulent start pushed MSCI's benchmark emerging market equity index down 14 percent by the time it bottomed on Jan. 21.But fast forward 2-1/2 months and EM stocks are up 20 percent. Currencies from the Russian rouble to the Brazilian real have surged and struggling parts of Africa have some of the best-performing bonds in the world.Japan's Nikkei sagged 0.7 percent on Thursday to an 11 percent quarterly loss, having been slammed by the 7-percent surge in the yen against the dollar.Shanghai shares have been an even bigger loser, having dropped about 15 percent since the start of the year.