Borsa Istanbul down at open

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index dropped 0.32 percent or 379.17 points to open at 116,330.76 points on Wednesday.

The banking and holding sector indices were down 0.45 percent and 0.46 percent, respectively.

Among all sector indices, the sports sector index was the best performer, gaining 2.03 percent, and the telecommunication sector index saw the biggest fall, losing 0.73 percent.

On Tuesday, Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 closed at 116,709.93, down 0.20 percent, or 236.29 points, with a 7.04-billion-Turkish lira ($1.85 billion) trade volume.

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate dropped to 3.7960 as of 9.30 a.m. local time (0630GMT), compared with Tuesday's closing rate of 3.8210.

The euro/lira rate rose to 4.7190 on Wednesday morning, compared with 4.7030 at the previous day's close.

The price of Brent oil was $65.25 per barrel as of 10.00 a.m. local time (0700GMT) Wednesday, versus $65.79 at close on Tuesday.

Analysts said investors would focus on Turkish Central Bank's interest rate decision due on Wednesday.

The investors are also expected to follow ADP non-farm employment change data of the U.S and Fed's Beige Book to be published and Eurozone's growth rate set to be released on Wednesday.