ISTANBUL (Reuters) - The Turkish equities lira firmed against the dollar on Wednesday and stocks pared some losses following improved sentiment in U.S. bourses and positive news on Turkey's International Monetary Fund talks.

The main Istanbul stock exchange index closed down 0.26 percent at 23,844.72, after falling by more than 3 percent.

The MSCI index of emerging market stocks .MSCIEF was trading down 0.81 percent at 1501 GMT.

Turkish stocks were expected to face further selling pressure, said analyst Alper Erginol of Oyak Invest, as the index stayed below the psychologically important barrier of 24,000.

The late rise was linked to major U.S. indexes, which opened modestly higher on Wednesday, following a steep drop on Tuesday.

The market rose after the Obama administration released a plan aimed at stemming home foreclosures and as investors sought bargains in the beaten-down market.

This is a global reaction today to the selling. U.S. futures have been looking stronger since the morning, said Erginol.

But this is not permanent, we are in a dangerous situation and selling pressure will continue unless U.S. markets begin to strengthen, he said.

A statement from Economy Minister Mehmet Simsek that he expected the IMF to take a new approach to negotiations with Turkey on a fresh loan deal in the next few days gave positive news to markets saying, Erginol said.

Protracted IMF talks were suspended in January due to disagreements over the terms of a loan -- funds seen as necessary for Turkey to weather the global economic slow-down.

Shares in Turkey's leading media company Dogan Yayin Holding (DYHOL.IS) were down 17.74 percent at 0.51 lira and Dogan Holding (DOHOL.IS) was 14.06 percent lower at 0.55 lira after the tax authorities fined the media giant 693 million lira ($407 million). [ID:nLI334101]

Lender Tekstilbank (TEKST.IS) fell 4.76 percent to 0.40 lira after majority owner GSD Holding (GSDHO.IS) said it had delayed the sale of the bank due to market conditions.

The lira closed at 1.6920 against the dollar on the interbank market versus the previous day's close of 1.6800. The currency fell beyond 1.70 in morning trade. It has lost about a third of its value since September.

In the secondary debt market, the yield on the benchmark Nov. 3, 2010, bond <0#TRTSYSUM=IS> was trading at 15.59 percent after closing at 15.64 percent on Tuesday. (Reporting by Thomas Grove)