By Muhammed Ali Gurtas
ANKARA (AA) - Turkey’s benchmark index fell by 0.9 percent to stand at 98,737,01 points at Thursday's closing.
Borsa Istanbul’s BIST 100 index closed the day down 899.26 points with a total trading volume of 4.1 billion Turkish liras (approximately $1.16 billion).
The banking and holding sectors went down 0.89 percent and 0.51 percent, respectively. Among all sectors, the basic metal index was the best performer -- up 0.56 percent -- while the mining sector saw the biggest decline, falling 6.68 percent.
Shares of Ayen (AYEN), an energy company, were the top gainer with an increase of 3.44 percent in value while stocks of Koza Gold Corp. (KOZAL), which operates in the mining industry, were the worst performer, declining 8.68 percent.
The five most-traded stocks were national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, private lender Garanti, prominent sports club Galatasaray, followed by mining company Koza Madencilik and private equity firm Gozde Girisim.
The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate increased to 3.5190 as of 5 p.m. (1400GMT) on Thursday, compared with 3.4930 at Wednesday's close.
Borsa Istanbul's Gold Exchange index fell by 1.72 percent while the price of gold per kilogram decreased to 141,000 Turkish liras (around $40,070) as of 4.30 p.m. (1330GMT).