Turkey's Borsa Istanbul down at closing

By Gokhan Ergocun

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey’s BIST 100 stock exchange closed day at 105,026.11 points, dropping 937.50 points, or 0.88 percent, on Thursday.

The trade volume was 5.8 billion Turkish liras ($1.47 billion) while the banking and holding sector indices decreased by 2.77 and 0.82 percent respectively.

Among all sector indices, the mining sector index was the best performer with 2.06 percent while the banking sector index fell the most.

Stocks of energy and mining company Park Elektrik (PRKME) were the top gainer of the day -- with a 6.81 percent rise -- while shares of a major diesel engine and tractor manufacturer Tumosan Motor went down 7.96 percent, the biggest drop on Thursday.

The day's most traded stocks were national flag carrier Turkish Airlines (THYAO), private lender Garanti (GARAN), Sasa Polyester (SASA), state lender Halkbank (HALKB) followed by iron/steel producer Karabuk Kardemir (KRDMD).

The USD/TRY rate fell to 3.9190 as of 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT), up from 3.9570 at Wednesday's close.

The euro/lira exchange rate also dropped to 4.6480, compared with previous day's close at 4.6530.

The BIST Gold Exchange index gained value by 0.47 percent while a kilogram of gold traded at 163,200 Turkish liras ($41,620) as of 4.30 p.m. local time (1330GMT) Thursday, up from Wednesday's closing price of 163,850 Turkish liras ($41.793).

The price of Brent crude oil was $63.29 per barrel as of 6.00 p.m. local time (1500GMT) Thursday, compared with $62.98 at Wednesday's close.