UPDATES WITH MORE DAILY FIGURES
By Jeyhun Aliyev
ANKARA (AA) – Turkey's benchmark stock index fell by 0.58 percent to 94,817.26 points with a trading volume of around 10.4 billion Turkish liras ($2.15 billion) in the closing session on Thursday.
Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index ended the day with a 551.33-point fall from the Wednesday's close of 95,368.59 points, while it opened the day at 95,776.31 points, up 0.43 percent.
The benchmark index hovered between 93,557.70 points and 96,680.76 points, while 27 stocks on the index were on the rise, 65 on the decline, and eight flat compared to the previous close.
The total market value of listed shares on the BIST 100 was 625.38 billion liras ($128.84 billion) at the close, while the banking and holding sector indices decreased 1.31 percent and 0.09 percent, respectively.
Among all sectors, the telecommunication sector index showed the best performance, up 4.21 percent, and the transportation sector index saw the biggest drop, losing 3.57 percent.
Stocks of telecommunication giant Turkcell (TCELL) climbed the most, up 5.22 percent, while shares of casting producer Cemas Dokum (CEMAS) suffered the worst, falling 4.15 percent.
The BIST 100's most-traded listed companies were private lender Garanti, national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, defense company Aselsan, state lender Halkbank and iron/steel producer Kardemir.
The USD/TRY exchange rate dropped to 4.8170 as of 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT) Thursday, compared with 4.8350 at the Wednesday's close.
The euro/lira exchange rate also fell to 5.6330 by market close, versus 5.6570 at the previous close, and one British pound traded for 6.3420 Turkish liras, compared with 6.3730 at Wednesday's close.
In Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets, one ounce of gold traded for $1,229.00 as of 4.30 p.m. local time (1330GMT) Thursday, compared with $1,232.70 at the previous close.
The price of Brent oil rose slightly to $74.36 per barrel as of 6 p.m. (1500GMT) Thursday, from $73.31 on Wednesday's close.
