Borsa Istanbul goes down at close

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey’s benchmark index closed the day down 433.86 points to 88,531.28 Wednesday.

The BIST 100 index declined 0.49 percent with a total trading volume of 4.1 billion Turkish liras (approximately $1.14 billion).

On the third day of the week, the banking and holding indices fell 1.39 and 0.39 percent, respectively. Among all sectors, the investment trust index was the best performer -- up 2.11 percent -- while the information technologies sector was the worst, falling 1.44 percent.

The most heavily traded stocks were private lender Garanti, the country's national flag carrier Turkish Airlines plus other lenders Halkbank, Akbank and Vakifbank.

Spanish banking group Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. (BBVA) acquired $920 million in shares from Garanti Bank, according to a stock filing late Tuesday.

Upon acquisition, the total shares of BBVA group in Garanti will rise to 49.85 percent and current chairman of executive board Ferit Sahenk will continue.

“The key motive behind this acquisition is confidence in the Turkish banking sector and the Turkish economy. Our partners see significant banking potential in our country and seek to benefit from this potential,” Sahenk said in a press release from Dogus Group.

“The long-term growth prospects for both Garanti and Turkey continue to be very positive despite the current uncertainties,” said Carlos Torres Vila, chief executive officer of BBVA.

“This is a great opportunity to increase our stake in one of our key franchises under very attractive terms."

Garanti is the top bank in Turkey in terms of market capitalization (more than $10.3 billion) and the group has 23,678 employees, 5,125 ATMs and 1,131 branches, according to BBVA.

Stocks of Park Elektrik (PRKME), heavily involved in energy and mining sectors, were the best performer of the day, rising 6.22 percent, while Turkish conglomerate Ihlas Holding (IHLAS) suffered the biggest drop of the day, with its stocks falling 2.70 percent.

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate hovered around 3.60. One dollar was worth 3.6080 as of 5 p.m. (1400GMT) Wednesday compared to 3.6290 at Tuesday's closing.

The dollar traded for 3.6710 liras at Friday's closing, after seeing a historic hike -- 3.90 liras -- in mid-January.

The Borsa Istanbul Gold Exchange index gained 0.42 percent while the price of gold for per kilogram increased to 143,600 Turkish liras (around $39,783) as of 4.30 p.m. (1330GMT), compared with 143,258 Turkish liras (around $39,475) at Tuesday's closing.