UPDATE - Turkish stocks down at Monday close

UPDATES WITH MORE FIGURES

By Aysu Bicer

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index fell 9.79% to close Monday at 1,379.25 points.

After starting the week at 1,427.33 points, Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index lost 149.74 points from last week's close of 1,528.99 points.

On Monday, the BIST 100 hovered between 1,378.56 and 1,491.99 points.

Closing the day with a market value of some 1 trillion Turkish liras ($145 billion), the benchmark index posted a daily trading volume of 16.7 billion Turkish liras ($2.12 billion).

The highest trading volumes were posted by private lender Garanti BBVA, automaker Ford Otosan, and iron producer Eregli Demir Celik.

One ounce of gold sold for $1,733.20 by market close on Monday, down from $1,741.60 at Friday's close, according to data from Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets.

The price of Brent crude oil was around $64.54 per barrel as of 6 p.m. local time (1500GMT) on Monday.

Meanwhile, the Turkish lira recovered to 7.8 versus the dollar following a pledge by Turkey's finance minister on Monday to use macroeconomic policy to ensure a permanent drop in inflation.

As it places great importance on the efficient and solid functioning of markets, Turkey will not compromise on free-market mechanisms, said Lutfi Elvan.

"The liberal exchange regime will continue resolutely," he underlined.