Borsa Istanbul stocks down at open

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index dropped 0.28 percent or 289.17 points to open at 102,494.86 points on Friday.

On Thursday, Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index rose 0.19 percent to close the day at 102,784.03 points with a daily trading volume of 6.64 billion Turkish liras ($1.26 billion)

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate rose to 5.2680 as of 9.30 a.m. local time (0630GMT), compared to Thursday's closing rate of 5.2530.

The euro/Turkish lira exchange rate also climbed to 5.9760, versus 5.9640 at the last close. One British pound traded for 6.8350 Turkish liras, as the GBP/TRY exchange rate was 6.8220 at market close on Thursday.

The price of Brent oil fell to $61.19 per barrel as of 10.00 a.m. local time (0700GMT) Friday, versus $62.16 at the previous close.