* Central bankers met hundreds of investors in NYC
* Rate hikes ending soon, bank says it is vigilant - sources
ANKARA, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Turkish Central Bank Governor Hafize Gaye Erkan said at investor meetings in New York last week that the bank was ready to take any action needed as it remained vigilant on inflation risks, some participants said.
According to attendees of the meetings on Thursday and Friday, Erkan said monetary tightness would be maintained as long as necessary to ensure sustained price stability, reinforcing some investors' newfound confidence in Turkish assets.
Inflation soared to near 65% last month and is likely to rise until mid-year, when it is expected to begin dipping due to an aggressive monetary tightening cycle that the central bank has said is nearing an end.
President Tayyip Erdogan named Erkan, a former Wall Street banker, to the post in June to reverse years of easy money under his watch that prompted an ongoing cost-of-living crisis.
Erkan was cited as telling investors the bank reduced its pace of tightening in December given it was significantly close to the level required to establish a disinflation course, and that the cycle would be completed "as soon as possible."
One U.S. investor who attended said he was left "feeling pretty good about our Turkey exposure" given the credibility of the central bank's new team, especially its deputy governors.
"Erdogan can still blow things up at any time if he chooses but ... no elections are needed until 2028. So there's time to do the heavy lifting of fixing the economy," the investor said, requesting anonymity, citing the meeting's rules.
FOREIGN INTEREST
The central bank declined to comment on Erkan's remarks, which were made at JPMorgan headquarters in New York.
There were some 300 participants including from Fidelity, Artisan, Goldman Sachs, Blackrock, UBS and Morgan Stanley, attendees and organizers said.
Reuters reported this month that U.S. investment giants Pimco and Vanguard returned to the Turkish market late last year due to its newfound economic orthodoxy.
The central bank has raised its one-week repo rate by 3,400 basis points since June, when Erdogan appointed Erkan, along with a new cabinet, to conduct a sharp pivot toward more orthodox policies.
It lifted its key rate by 250 basis points to 42.5% on Dec. 21 and analysts generally expect one more hike this month. Inflation is expected to peak around 70%-75% in May before falling.
Top Turkish policymakers will not attend the annual World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting this week in Davos, Switzerland, a person familiar with the plans said on Monday.
(Reporting by Nevzat Devranoglu; Additional reporting by Jonathan Spicer in Istanbul; Editing by Daren Butler, Edmund Klamann and Alison Williams)
