Turkey's benchmark stock index down at close

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA

Turkey's benchmark stock index ended Tuesday down 3.05 percent to close at 91,686.35 points.

Starting the day at 94,279.75 points, Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index fell 2,884.55 points from the previous close.

The BIST 100's daily low was 91,545.81 points and it peaked at 94,391.73 points. Eleven stocks on the index rose, 87 fell and 2 were flat compared with the previous close.

The daily trade volume of the benchmark index was 6.74 billion Turkish liras ($1.26 billion).

Private lender Garanti Bank, national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, and defense company Aselsan recorded the highest trade volumes.

By market capitalization, the top listed companies were Turkish conglomerate Koc Holding ($6.88 billion), Garanti Bank ($6.25 billion), and energy company Tupras ($5.68 billion). The BIST 100's total market value was nearly 596.5 billion liras ($112 billion) on Tuesday.

Shares of Sekerbank (SKBNK), a Turkish lender, showed the best performance for the second consecutive day with a 6.03-percent hike. Stocks of Odas Elektrik (ODAS), which operates in the energy sector, posted the biggest drop, going down 13.42 percent.

Among all sector indices, the BIST insurance index showed the best performance of the day, up 2.29 percent, as the BIST mining index fell 5.71 percent, the worst of the day.

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate was 5.3650 by market close on Tuesday, versus 5.3350 at close on Monday.

One euro traded for 6.1250 liras, while the euro/lira exchange rate was 6.1000 at the previous close.

The British pound/Turkish lira exchange rate stood at 6.8970 at daily close, compared with Monday's close of 6.8670.

By market close, the price of one ounce of gold was $1,224.50 in Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets, compared to $1,220.00 at the previous close.

As of 6 p.m. local time (1500GMT), the price of Brent oil was around $64.62 per barrel, hovering between $64.18 and $67.02 during the day.