Turkey's Borsa Istanbul down at close

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index closed the day at 109,236.52 points on Tuesday, falling 0.37% from the previous close.

After starting the day at 109,944.95 points, Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index slipped 400.56 points from 109,637.08 at Monday's close.

On Tuesday, the BIST 100 hovered between 108,456.40 and 110,329.86 points -- 32 stocks on the index rose, 63 fell, and five were flat compared to the previous close.

Closing the day with a market value of some 782.6 billion Turkish liras ($115.5 billion), the benchmark index posted a daily trading volume of 12.4 billion Turkish liras ($1.9 billion).

By market capitalization, Turkish conglomerate Koc Holding ($6.5 billion), major Turkish discount chain BIM Birlesik Magazalar ($5.8 billion), and defense firm Aselsan ($5.3 billion) were the leading companies on the BIST 100.

Shares of real estate investment trust Emlak Konut, private lender Garanti BBVA, and national flag carrier Turkish Airlines saw the highest trading volumes.

Stocks of wholesale trade company Bizim Magazalari (BIZIM) performed the best, rising 9.95%, while shares of major cardboard producer Kartonsan (KARTN) did the worst, losing 3.27%.

One ounce of gold sold for $1,709.00 by market close, up from $1,693.50 at the previous close, according to the data from Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets.

The price of Brent crude oil was around $40.60 per barrel as of 6 p.m. (1500GMT).