Turkey's benchmark stock index flat at close

BIST 100 closes day by going down just 0.03 percent; US dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate falls below 3.52

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey’s benchmark stock index closed Thursday flat for the second day in a row by going down just 0.03 percent to stand at 106,825.33 points.

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index fell by 36.66 points at close, down from 106,861.99 points at Wednesday's close. Total trading volume of the BIST 100 was 5.3 billion Turkish liras (around $1.5 billion).

During trading hours on Tuesday, the BIST 100 reached its highest level of all time, at 110,232.52 points.

Since the beginning of the year, the benchmark index has risen nearly 37.5 percent, and posted its highest close at 109,781.13 points on Aug. 7.

On Thursday, the banking and holding sector indexes decreased by 0.33 and 0.11 percent, respectively. Among all sectors, the BIST electricity index rose the most, up 3.67 percent, and the BIST mining index saw the worst performance of the day by going down 5.50 percent.

Stocks of Zorlu Enerji (ZOREN), a major company operating in the energy industry, were the top gainer of the day with a 9.66 percent hike while shares of another energy company Ipek Dogal Enerji (IPEKE) suffered the largest decline, falling 8 percent.

The BIST 100's most traded stocks were national flag carrier Turkish Airlines (THYAO), private lender Garanti (GARAN), iron-steel producer Kardemir Karabuk (KRDMD), followed by mining company Koza Madencilik (KOZAA) and energy company Zorlu Enerji (ZOREN).

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate fell to 3.5150 by 5 p.m. (1400GMT) Thursday, compared with 3.5260 at Wednesday's close.

One dollar was traded for 3.5390 Turkish liras last Friday. The exchange rate saw its historic high in mid-January this year climbing to around 3.94 Turkish liras.

On Thursday, Borsa Istanbul's Gold Exchange index rose by 1.10 percent while the price of gold per kilogram was 145,750 Turkish liras ($41,380) as of 4.30 p.m. (1330GMT), up from 144,250 Turkish liras ($40,892) at Wednesday's close.

Last Friday, Aug. 11, the price of gold per kilogram was 147,050 Turkish liras ($41,530).

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