UPDATE - Turkish stocks down at midweek close

UPDATE WITH MORE DAILY FIGURES

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index ended the midweek trading down 1.32% to close at 90,272.19 points on Wednesday.

After starting the day at 90,767.72 points, Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index fell 1,210.26 points from the previous close.

During Wednesday trading, the BIST 100's daily low was 89,734.38 points and it peaked at 91,600.57 points -- 44 stocks on the index rose, 48 fell, and eight were flat compared to the previous close.

Closing the day with a market value of some 698 billion Turkish liras ($97.2 billion), the benchmark index posted a daily trading volume of nearly 5.9 billion Turkish liras ($954 million).

Turkish conglomerate Koc Holding, private lender Garanti BBVA, and energy giant Tupras were the BIST 100's top companies by market capitalization.

Stocks of Garanti BBVA, national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, and private lender Akbank posted the highest trading volumes on Wednesday.

Telecommunication giant Turk Telekom (TTKOM) enjoyed the best performance, as its shares climbed 6.42%, while stocks of leasing company Is Finansal Kiralama (ISFIN) did the worst, with an 11.74% loss in the stock value.

One ounce of gold sold for $1,289.80 at the daily close in Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets, versus $1,279.85 at the close on Tuesday.

With a day range of $69.33 to $70.42, the price of Brent oil was around $70.25 per barrel as of 6 p.m. local time (1500GMT) on Wednesday.