Borsa Istanbul down nearly 2 percent at close

By Gokhan Ergocun

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index dropped by 1.89 percent to 93,504.76 points with a trading volume of around 5.6 billion Turkish liras ($1.2 billion) in the closing session on Wednesday.

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index ended the day with a 1,802.22-point decrease from the previous close of 95,306.98 points, while it opened the day at 94,825.54 points, down 0.51 percent.

The USD/TRY exchange rate rose to 4.6450 as of 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT) Wednesday, compared with 4.5510 at Tuesday's close. It had hit an all-time high with 4.93 last month.

The euro/lira exchange rate also increased to 5.4790 by market close, versus 5.3680 at the previous close, and one British pound was traded for 6.2090 Turkish liras, compared with 6.1010 at Tuesday's close.

The BIST Gold Exchange index lost in value by 0.17 percent at the close. In Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets, one ounce of gold was traded for $1,295.00 as of 4.30 p.m. local time (1330GMT) Wednesday, compared with $1,297.20 at previous close.

The price of Brent oil dropped slightly to $76.47 per barrel as of 6 p.m. (1500GMT) Wednesday, from $76.55 at the previous close.

The market will stay open for a half time on Thursday due to the eve of the Muslim Eid al-Fitr holiday.