Turkey's Borsa Istanbul down at close

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey’s benchmark stock index went down by 0.78 percent to close at 106,963.10 points on Friday.

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index fell 817.32 points from 107,800.42 points at Thursday's close, with a total trading volume of 5.6 billion Turkish liras ($1.58 billion).

On Monday, the BIST 100 hit its historic peak of 109,947.87 points and recorded its highest close at 109,781.13 points.

On a weekly basis, the index fell by 1.45 percent, compared with last Friday's close at 108,545.31 points.

Since the beginning of the year, Turkey's benchmark index has risen 37.5 percent.

On the last trading day of the week, the banking and holding sector indexes went down by 1.20 and 1.38 percent, respectively.

Among all sectors, the BIST transportation index performed the best with a 1.38 percent hike while the investment trusts sector declined the most, by 1.74 percent.

Shares of commercial vehicle manufacturer Karsan Otomotiv (KARSN) were gained the most -- up 8.09 percent -- while stocks of Deva Holding, a pharmaceutical company, saw a 5.63 percent fall, Friday's biggest drop.

The BIST 100's most traded stocks were national flag carrier Turkish Airlines (THYAO), mining company Koza Madencilik (KOZAA), the country's leading petrochemicals producer Petkim (PETKM), followed by private lender Garanti (GARAN) plus energy and mining company Park Elektrik (PRKME).

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate stood at 3.5390 as of 5 p.m. (1400GMT) on Friday, compared with 3.5320 at Thursday's close.

Last Friday, one dollar was traded for 3.5370 Turkish liras. The exchange rate saw its historic high in mid-January this year climbing to around 3.94 Turkish liras.

Borsa Istanbul's Gold Exchange index advanced by 0.13 percent, while the price of gold per kilogram increased to 147,050 Turkish liras ($41,530) as of 4.30 p.m. (1330GMT) on Friday, compared with 145,850 Turkish liras ($41,304) at Thursday's close.