Turkey shares higher at close, BIST up almost 1 pct

ANKARA (AA) - Turkish stocks ended on a high the first trading day of the week with modest increases after inflation came below forecasts in September, amid a slowdown in food prices.

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100, the country’s benchmark index, closed 0.96 percent (737 points) higher at 77,225.39.

On the first trading day of the week, the banking sector index rose about 1.37 percent, but the tourism sector index lost 0.99 percent after reports that the number of tourists visiting the Mediterranean resort of Antalya dropped in the first nine months of 2016.

The total trading volume on Monday was 3.3 billion Turkish liras ($1.09 billion).

Borsa Istanbul's most actively traded stocks belonged to national flag-carrier Turkish Airlines, state lender Halkbank, private lenders Akbank and Garanti Bank, and cement maker Afyon Cimento, (AFYON), which saw the largest rise of 19.20 percent.

At the other end, Eczacibasi Ilac (ECILC) was down 2.53 or 0.10 points to 2.54 in late trading.

Rising stocks outnumbered falling ones by 217 to 102, and 180 ended unchanged.

- Gold prices down -

The Borsa Istanbul Gold Exchange index lost 0.83 percent in value on Monday compared to Friday’s closing, with gold trading at 127,500 Turkish liras per kilogram.

Turkey's currency fell against the U.S. dollar, standing at over 3.02 compared to Friday's close of 2.9965.

Consumer prices rose less than forecast in September after a significant fall in food prices, the Turkish Statistics Institute (TUİK) said in a statement Monday.

Consumer prices rose 0.18 percent month-on-month in September, while annual inflation fell to 7.28 percent last month from the 8.05 percent posted in August.