Borsa Istanbul down in morning session

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) – The BIST 100 index lost 198.65 points to open at 77,195.79 on Tuesday morning during its first transactions.

The benchmark index decreased by 0.26 percent on the second trading day of the week. The banking and holding sector indices declined by 0.37 and 0.32 percent respectively.

Among all the sector indices, the tourism sector index increased the most, by 0.66 percent. The information technology sector index saw the biggest drop, 0.82 percent, in initial transactions.

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate increased to its record high of 3.7560 at 9.30 a.m. local time (0630 GMT) on Tuesday, compared with 3.7340 at Monday's close.

Gold held at $1,186.31 an ounce.

U.S. crude futures slightly increased by 0.08 percent to stand at $51.99 a barrel, while benchmark Brent crude futures rose by 0.09 percent to reach $54.98.