Borsa Istanbul down at close

By Gokhan Ergocun

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index went down 0.29 percent to close at 116,304.51 points on Monday, with a total trading volume of 6.3 billion Turkish liras ($1.67 billion).

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index lost 333.43 points, while the banking and holding sectors indices fell by 0.78 percent and 0.18 percent, respectively.

Among all sectors, the mining sector index was the top performer -- up 2.52 percent -- while the tourism sector index performed the worst, down by 1.41 percent.

Shares of Anadolu Cam, operating under one of the world's major glass manufacturers Turkey's Sisecam, were the top gainers of the day, up 5.76 percent, while the stocks of a prominent sports club Galatasaray suffered the most, falling 2.29 percent.

The top five most-traded stocks were the national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, private lender Garanti, state lender Halkbank, leading petrochemicals producer Petkim and mining company Koza.

On Friday, the BIST 100 rose 0.99 percent or 1,146.74 points to close at 116,637.94 points. The trade volume was 7.1 billion Turkish liras (approximately $1.9 billion).

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate stood at 3.7510 as of 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT) on Monday, compared to Friday's close at 3.7500.

The euro/lira exchange rate dropped to 4.4910 on Monday, from 4,5060 the last week's close.

The BIST Gold Exchange index gained 0.14 percent in value, while the price of gold per kilogram stood at 158,500 Turkish liras (around $42,251) as of 5.30 p.m. local time (1430GMT).

As of 5.30 p.m. local time (1430GMT) Monday, the price of Brent oil was $67.55 per barrel, versus $67.61 at the previous close.