Turkey's lira recovered steadily Tuesday, taking the pressure off stock markets although a boost from early bargain-hunting fizzled out, leaving most European share indices little changed on the day.

Turkey's lira has bled value against the dollar, leaving the country under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan facing its most serious economic challenge since a financial crisis in 2001.

Borrowing rates for southern eurozone nations pushed higher Monday as the crisis in Turkey dampened appetite for risk among investors who were also keeping a wary eye on Italy.

The crash in the value of the lira has reverberated far beyond Turkey as investors have fled other emerging market currencies in favor of safer assets, while the shares of European banks with units in Turkey have taken a lashing.

Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk said Monday he was in talks with the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund and other investors to take the electric automaker private.

Iran is selling oil and gas at a discount to Asian customers as it prepares for the return of US sanctions, state news agency IRNA reported on Monday. 

Turkey's central bank on Monday sought to calm markets rattled by the precipitous plunge of the Turkish lira as a defiant President Recep Tayyip Erdogan chastised the U.S. for seeking to stab Ankara "in the back."

The leaders of Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan are meeting in the Kazakh port city of Aktau on Sunday to sign a landmark deal on the Caspian Sea.

Tesla chief executive Elon Musk got into legal hot water this week after announcing on Twitter he had sufficient financing already in hand to take the electric automaker private.

A key objective of President Donald Trump's trade war is to pressure Beijing to "buy American", but when it comes to millions of dollars of U.S. meat imports, China may simply take its business elsewhere.

The leaders of the five states bordering the resource-rich Caspian Sea signed a landmark deal Sunday on the legal status of the inland sea which boasts a wealth of oil and gas reserves and sturgeon.