Turkey's Borsa Istanbul down at Friday's close

By Aysu Bicer

ANKARA (AA) – Turkey’s benchmark stock index fell by 0.38%, or over 390 points, Friday to close the week at 103,153.20 points.

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index started the day at 103,446.23 points. As of close, it lost over 390 points from Thursday's close of 103.544,35 points.

During Friday's trading, the index's lowest level was 103,020.77 points and the highest was 103,836.69 points.

The total market value of the BIST 100 was around 698 billion Turkish liras ($121 billion) by market close, and the daily trading volume was 9.3 billion Turkish liras ($1.61 billion).

On the last transaction day of the week, 48 stocks on the index rose and 45 fell compared to Thursday.

The top-listed companies by market value were Turkish conglomerate Koc Holding and private lenders Garanti and Akbank.

The highest trading volumes were posted by national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, defense giant Aselsan, and ICBC Turkey Bank (ICBCT).

ICBC Turkey, the first Chinese bank active on Turkish soil, was the best performer on Friday, with its shares up 6.73%, while stocks of Verusa Holding dropped most, down 13.05%.

The price of one ounce of gold was around $1,460.30 by market close, down from $1,484.40 at the previous close, according to data from Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets.

The price of Brent crude oil was around $60.95 per barrel as of 6 p.m. (1500GMT) on Friday.