Turkish shares down at close

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey’s benchmark index was down 0.52 percent at the close of the daily session Wednesday.

The BIST 100 index fell 391.49 points to close at 74,759.06. The total trading volume of the country's stock exchange market was 3.4 billion Turkish liras (approx. $1.02 billion).

On the third day of the week, the banking and holding sector indices fell 1.33 and 0.93 percent, respectively.

Among sector indices, the chemical petroleum plastic index rose the most – 1.17 percent – while the largest drop was seen in the mining index, which fell 1.45 percent.

The most heavily traded stocks were lenders Garanti Bank, Halkbank, Akbank, food giant Ulker, and national flag carrier Turkish Airlines.

Shares of Alarko Holding were the top percent gainer with an increase of 6.34 percent, while real estate investment trust Torunlar Gayrimenkul was the top percent loser, with its shares down 3.13 percent.

The Borsa Istanbul Gold Exchange index fell 0.04 percent in value, with gold trading at 130,710 Turkish liras (some $39,352) per kilogram.

The Turkish lira's fall in value against the U.S. dollar continued Wednesday, dropping to a historic level to trade at 3.3220, compared to Tuesday's closing rate of 3.2850.

Analysts said investors would externally follow Fed's head Janet Yellen's speech to the Senate and the U.S. consumer price index for October, set to be released Thursday.