UPDATES WITH MORE DAILY FIGURES
By Muhammed Ali Gurtas
ANKARA (AA) – Turkey's benchmark stock index ended Wednesday down 0.99 percent to close at 97,187.87 points.
Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index recorded a 972.86-point decline compared with Tuesday's close of 98,160.73 points, while it started the midweek trading day at 98,204.51 points.
During Wednesday's trading, the BIST 100 hovered between 96,944.51 and 98,698.57 points. Compared with the previous close, 24 stocks on the index rose, 68 fell, and eight were flat.
Among all sector indices, the BIST wholesale and retail trade index was the best performer with a 1.23-percent hike, and the BIST banking index did the worst, declining 2.36 percent.
Stocks of Turkish conglomerate Alarko Holding (ALARK) saw the highest increase on Wednesday — up 4.68 percent — while shares of prominent electronics and appliances manufacturer Arcelik (ARCLK) fell the most with a 4.71-percent down.
The total market value of the BIST 100's listed companies was around 638 billion liras ($106 billion) as of daily close, posting a trade volume of 7.47 billion liras ($1.24 billion).
Wednesday's most traded stocks were private lender Garanti, national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, defense company Aselsan, telecommunication company Turk Telekom, and another private lender Yapi Kredi.
With regards to market capitalization, the top listed companies were Turkish conglomerate Koc Holding ($7 billion), iron and steel producer Eregli Demir Celik ($6.39 billion) and energy giant Tupras ($5.51 billion).
At daily close, the USD/TRY exchange rate was 6.0340, while one U.S. dollar traded for 6.0010 Turkish liras at the previous close.
The euro/lira rate was 6.9620, versus 6.9270 at close on Tuesday, and one British pound exchanged for 7.8460 Turkish liras while the GBP/TRY exchange rate was 7.7990 at the previous close.
In Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets, the price of one ounce of gold rose to $1,202.50 by market close, compared with $1,198.00 at close on Tuesday.
As of 6 p.m. local time (1500GMT), the price of Brent oil stood at around $85.08 per barrel, hovering between $84.03 and $85.33 during the day.
Since the beginning of this year, Brent oil price has risen from $66 a barrel.
