Turkey's Borsa Istanbul down at close

By Dilara Zengin

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index closed the day down 0.10 percent to reach 109,049.50 points on Tuesday, with a total trading volume of 6.4 billion Turkish liras ($1.7 billion).

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index lost 106.98 points from Monday's close of 109,156.47 points.

The banking and holding sectors indices fell by 0.50 percent and 0.42 percent, respectively.

Among all sectors, the mining sector index was the top performer -- up 9.51 percent -- while the basic metal sector index suffered the biggest drop, 2.38 percent.

The stocks of mining firm Koza Madencilik performed the best, up 18.74 percent, while energy and mining company Park Elektrik's stocks suffered the most, falling 4.13 percent.

The top five most-traded stocks were national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, prominent polyester producer Sasa Polyester, state lender Halkbank, defense giant Aselsan, and mining firm Koza Mandencilik.

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate rose to 3.8300 as of 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT) Tuesday, up from 3.8280 at Monday's close.

The euro/lira exchange rate also dropped to 4.4990 by market close, down from Monday's close at 4.5110.

The BIST Gold Exchange index lost 0.64 percent in value, while the price of gold per kilogram reached 152,900 Turkish liras (around $39,914) as of 5.30 p.m. local time (1430GMT), compared with Monday's closing price of 153,930 liras ($40,294).

As of 6.30 p.m. local time (1530GMT) Tuesday, the price of Brent oil was $64.58 per barrel, versus $64.69 at the previous close.