Borsa Istanbul flat at open

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - The Borsa Istanbul BIST 100 index fell 0.19 percent -- 157.34 points -- Monday to open at 83,670.05 points.

Turkey’s banking and holding sector indices were down 0.18 and 0.24 percent respectively while the insurance sector rose 0.80 percent -- the best performing sub-index. The biggest drop was in the information technologies sector, which fell 0.78 percent.

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate rose slightly to 3.8760 at 9.30 a.m. local time (0630GMT), compared to 3.8730 at Friday's close.

Gold held at $1,192.52 an ounce.

U.S. crude futures dropped 0.43 percent to $52.94 a barrel while benchmark Brent crude futures fell 0.52 percent to $55.41.