Turkey's Borsa Istanbul down at close

By Dilara Zengin

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey’s benchmark index closed the day down 378.32 points Tuesday to stand at 97,347.63 points.

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index fell by 0.39 percent with a total trading volume of 4.4 billion Turkish liras (approximately $1.2 billion).

On the second transaction day of the week, the banking sector index went down 1.20 percent, while the holding sector index rose 0.15 percent.

Among all indices, the electricity sector index was the best performer, up 2.55 percent, while the mining sector index was the worst, down 4.49 percent.

Stocks of Eczacibasi Ilac (ECILC), active in the pharmaceutical industry, performed the best on Tuesday -- up 19.95 percent -- while Sasa Polyester Sanayi (SASA) suffered the largest decline of the day, falling 8.55 percent.

The five most-traded stocks were national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, private lender Garanti, real estate investment trust Emlak Konut, Eczacibasi Ilac and Turkish conglomerate Koc Holding.

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate decreased to 3.5520 Turkish liras as of 6 p.m. (1500GMT) on Tuesday, down from 3.5750 Turkish liras at Monday's close.

Borsa Istanbul's Gold Exchange index fell by 0.36 percent, while the price of gold per kilogram rose to 144,250 Turkish liras (around $40,545) as of 4.30 p.m. (1330GMT).