Borsa Istanbul down at close

By Jeyhun Aliyev

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index closed Friday down 1.47 percent at 99,171.21 points with a total trading volume of around 8.2 billion Turkish liras ($1.78 billion).

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index ended the day with a 1,481.06-point decline from the previous close of 100,652.27 points, while it started the day at 100,706.76 points.

On Friday, the USD/TRY exchange rose to 4.5830 as of 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT), up from 4.5210 at Thursday's close.

The euro/lira exchange rate also increased to 5.3500 by market close, versus 5.2780 at Thursday's close, and one British pound traded for 6.1220 Turkish liras, while the GBP/TRY rate was 6.0260 at the previous close.

The BIST Gold Exchange index declined 0.90 percent at the close. In Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets, one ounce of gold traded for $1,292.00 as of 4.30 p.m. local time (1330GMT) Friday, versus $1,303.70 at the previous close.

As of 6 p.m. local time (1500GMT), the price of Brent oil stood at $76.83 per barrel -- hovering between $76.54 and $77.96 during the day -- while it was around $66 at the beginning of this year.