Turkey's Borsa Istanbul down at close

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index closed Tuesday down 0.30 percent at 109,129.65 points with a 5.9 billion Turkish lira ($1.71 billion) trade volume.

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index fell 328.36 points, from 109,458.01 points at closing on Monday, while the banking and holding sector indexes were down 0.02 and 0.95 percent, respectively.

On the second trading day of the week, the BIST transportation index performed the best for a second consecutive day -- up 1.80 percent -- while the BIST mining index declined the most with a 1.54 percent fall.

Stocks of prominent polyester producer SASA Polyester Sanayi (SASA) were up 4.77 percent, biggest rise of the day, and shares of TAV Airports Holding (TAVHL) were the worst performer, down 4.64 percent.

The BIST 100's most traded stocks were national flag carrier Turkish Airlines (THYAO), state lender Halkbank (HALKB), real estate investment trust Emlak Konut (EKGYO), private lender Garanti (GARAN) and iron/steel producer Kardemir Karabuk (KRDMD).

Borsa Istanbul's Gold Exchange index declined 0.46 percent, while the price of gold per kilogram stood at 146,200 Turkish liras (around $42,491) as of 4.30 p.m. local time (1330GMT) on Tuesday, up from 146,100 Turkish liras (some $42,870) at Monday's close.

The USD/TRY rate increased steeply to 3.4400 by 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT) Tuesday, after testing below 3.40 on Monday -- 3.3888 -- which was the lowest level in 2017.

One dollar was exchanged for 3.51 on average last month, while the first eight months' average exchange rate was 3.61.

The USD/TRY rate saw sharp fluctuations after last year's defeated July 15 coup and climbed to its historic hike -- around 3.94 liras -- in mid-January this year.

According to Turkish Central Bank data, the dollar/lira rate was 3.02 on average last year and 2.71 on average in 2015.