Turkey's Borsa Istanbul flat at closing

By Gokhan Ergocun

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index closed the day up 0.05 percent at 108,488.69 points with a trade volume of 6.2 billion Turkish liras ($1.68 billion) Friday.

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index rose 55.14 points, while the banking and holding sector indexes were down by 0.41 and 0.10 percent, respectively.

Among all sectors, the mining sector was the top performer -- up 2.50 percent -- while the investment trusts sector index suffered the biggest drop, losing 1.31 percent.

Stocks of energy company Anel Elektrik (ANELE) had the best performance of the day with a 7.69 percent rise, while Celebi Hava Servisi (CLEBI), which provides integrated ground services to airports, was the worst performer, with its stocks falling 4.96 percent.

The top five traded shares of the BIST 100 were the national flag carrier Turkish Airlines (THYAO), state-lender Halkbank (HALKB), private lender Garanti (GARAN), real estate investment trust Emlak Konut GMYO (EKGYO), and defense company Aselsan (ASELS).

The BIST 100 was up 1.41 percent, or 1,507.16 points, to close at 108,433.55 points on Thursday with a trading volume of 4.7 billion Turkish liras (around $1.3 billion).

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate climbed to 3.6790 by 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT) on Friday, compared with 3.6600 at Thursday's close.

Borsa Istanbul's Gold Exchange index decreased by 0.08 percent, while the price of gold per kilogram rose to 151,150 Turkish liras ($41,190) as of 4.30 p.m. local time (1330GMT) on Friday, compared with 151,000 Turkish liras ($41,150) at the close on Thursday.