Borsa Istanbul down over 2 pct at close

By Gokhan Ergocun

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index went down 2.17 percent to close at 112,159.21 points on Monday, with a total trading volume of 7.1 billion Turkish liras ($1.87 billion).

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index lost 2,485.41 points, while the banking and holding sectors indices fell 2.07 percent and 1.88 percent, respectively.

Among all sectors, only the wholesale and retail trade sector index was up, rising 0.04 percent, while the mining sector index performed the worst, down by 6.78 percent.

Shares of Turkey's leading discount market chain BİM were the top gainers of the day, up 0.66 percent, while stocks of the mining company Koza suffered the most, falling 7.76 percent.

The top five most-traded stocks were the national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, iron and steel producer Kardemir, automotive manufacturer Karsan Otomotiv, electronics appliances producer Vestel Elektronik, and private lender Garanti.

On Friday, the BIST 100 dropped 0.06 percent or 74.19 points to close at 114,644.62 points. The trade volume was 7.1 billion Turkish liras (approximately $1.87 billion).

Borsa Istanbul rose 48.03 percent, or 37,425.81 points, over the last year, and since the beginning of 2018 it has dropped 4.56 percent or 5,364.99.

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rose to 3.7850 as of 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT) on Monday, compared to Friday's close at 3.7670.

The euro/lira exchange rate also climbed rapidly to 4.6520 on Monday, from 4.5650 the last week's close.

The BIST Gold Exchange index gained 0.75 percent in value, while the price of gold per kilogram stood at 163,300 Turkish liras (around $43,155) 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 $69.88 per barrel, versus $69.12 at the previous close.