Borsa Istanbul down at close

By Gokhan Ergocun

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey’s benchmark stock index, BIST 100, was down 336.27 points, or 0.31 percent to close at 109,330.17 points on Friday.

The trade volume was 6.1 billion Turkish liras ($1.57 billion) while the banking and holding sector indices decreased by 0.36 and 0.49 percent, respectively.

Among all sector indices, the mining sector index was the best performer with 2.44 percent while the telecommunication sector index fell the most -- 3.30 percent.

Stocks of iron and steel producer Karabuk Kardemir (KRDMD) were the top gainer of the day -- with a 4.53 percent rise -- whereas one of the world's major glass manufacturers, Sisecam (SISE), went down 2.52 percent, marking the biggest drop on Friday.

The day's most traded stocks were national flag carrier Turkish Airlines (THYAO), state lender Halkbank (HALKB), defense company Aselsan (ASELS), Karabuk Kardemir (KRDMD) and private lender Garanti (GARAN).

On a weekly-basis, the BIST 100 gained 1.31 percent, after seeing a high of 110,050.70 points and a low of 107,851.60 points during the weekdays.

The US dollar/Turkish lira rate fell slightly to 3.8710 as of 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT) on Friday, from 3.8740 at Thursday's close.

The euro/lira exchange rate also dropped to 4.5660, compared with previous day's close of 4.5810.

The BIST Gold Exchange index gained 0.26 percent while a kilogram of gold traded at 156,450 Turkish liras ($40,431) as of 4.30 p.m. local time (1330GMT) Friday, down from Thursday's closing price of 157,140 Turkish liras ($40,609).

The price of Brent crude oil was $63.46 per barrel as of 6.00 p.m. local time (1500GMT) Friday, compared with $62.90 at Thursday's close.