UPDATE – Turkey's Borsa Istanbul down over 1.5 pct at close

UPDATE WITH MORE DAILY FIGURES</p> <p>By Gokhan Ergocun </p> <p>ISTANBUL (AA) – Turkey's benchmark stock index dropped by 1.65 percent to close at 87,399.02 points on Thursday. </p> <p>Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index started the day at 88,375.86 points and lost 1,465.99 points from Wednesday's close of 88,865.01 points. </p> <p>The benchmark index hovered between 87,399.02 and 89,544.58 points, during Thursday's trading.</p> <p>Total market value of the BIST 100 was around 565.4 billion Turkish liras ($106 billion) as of market's closing, and the daily trade volume was 5.06 billion lira ($932.13 million). </p> <p>On the day, while 12 stocks on the index were on the rise, 86 were on the decline, and two were flat compared to the previous close.</p> <p>Top listed companies were Turkish conglomerate Koc Holding ($6.4 billion), private lender Garanti ($5.8 billion), and energy company Tupras ($5.2 billion) by market value.</p> <p>Highest trade volumes were posted by national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, Garanti, and defense company Aselsan.</p> <p>Shares of event organize Flap were the top gainers — up 4.67 percent — as stocks of conglomerate Verusa Holding fell the most with a 7.50-percent drop.</p> <p>The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate was 5.5040 at close, up from Wednesday's close of 5.3830.</p> <p>The euro/lira rate increased at close; 6.2500 versus 6.1220 at the previous close. </p> <p>One British pound traded for 6.9250 Turkish liras, while the GBP/TRY rate was 6.7990 at close on Wednesday. </p> <p>In Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets, the price of one ounce of gold was around $1,287.45 by market close, down from $1,288.40 the previous day. </p> <p>The price of Brent crude oil stood at around $55.20 per barrel as of 6 p.m. (1500GMT) Thursday, versus $55.32 at previous close.