Turkey's Borsa Istanbul down at close

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey’s benchmark stock index closed Tuesday with a 2.40 percent fall to stand at 106,913.26 points, with a trading volume of 7 billion Turkish liras ($1.98 billion).

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

After profit-takings, Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index fell 2,624.10 points at close, down from 109,537.36 points at Monday's close.

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

On the second trading day of the week, the banking and holding sector indexes were down by 2.45 and 2.51 percent, respectively.

Among all sectors, the wholesale and retail trade sector was the only one closed the day with an increase, rising 3.07 percent. The BIST mining index was the worst performer with an 18.47 percent down.

Shares of BIM Birlesik Magazalar, a major Turkish retail sale chain, were the top gainer on Tuesday with a 4.35 percent hike, while stocks of energy company Ipek Dogal Enerji saw a 20 percent fall, the largest decline of the day.

The BIST 100's most-traded stocks were national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, mining company Koza Madencilik, iron-steel producer Kardemir Karabuk, followed by lenders Garanti and Halkbank.

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate increased to 3.5420 by 5 p.m. (1400GMT) Tuesday, compared with 3.5250 at Monday'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.

Meanwhile, Borsa Istanbul's Gold Exchange index went down by 0.90 percent on Tuesday.

The price of gold per kilogram was 144,400 Turkish liras ($40,896) as of 4.30 p.m. (1330GMT), down from 145,300 Turkish liras ($41,277) at Monday's close.

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