By Dilara Zengin

ANKARA

Turkey’s benchmark index closed the day down 179.67 points Friday to stand at 97,533.28 points.

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index was down 0.18 percent with a total trading volume of 5.4 billion Turkish liras (approximately $1.51 billion).

On the last transaction day of the week, the banking sector index went down 0.95 percent while the holding sector index rose 0.32 percent.

Among all indices, the mining sector index was the best performer, up 1.16 percent, while the basic metal sector index was the worst, down 1.24 percent.

Stocks of Sasa Polyester Sanayi (SASA), a leading polyester producer, performed the best on Friday -- up 8.26 percent -- while Galatasaray Sportif (GSRAY) suffered the largest decline of the day, falling 3.74 percent.

The five most-traded stocks were Sasa, Turkish conglomerate Koc Holding, private lender Garanti, national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, and telecommunications giant Turkcell.

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate rose to 3.5740 Turkish liras as of 6 p.m. (1500GMT) on Friday, up from 3.5650 Turkish liras at Thursday's close.

Borsa Istanbul's Gold Exchange index climbed 0.48 percent, while the price of gold per kilogram rose to 145,700 Turkish liras (around $40,803) as of 4.30 p.m. (1330GMT).

On Friday, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) announced that confidence in Turkey’s economy was up in May.

The Economic Confidence Index rose 1.1 percent to 100.5 points in the month from 99.5 points in April, TurkStat said.