Turkish shares down at close

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey’s benchmark index closed the week with a 181.71-point decline to stand at 88,497.33 points on Friday, marking a 0.5 percent decrease compared with last Friday's close.

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index was down 0.20 percent with a total trading volume of three billion Turkish liras (approximately $804 million).

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate climbed to 3.7310 liras as of 5 p.m. (1400GMT) Friday, compared with 3.7090 liras at Thursday's close.

The dollar traded for 3.6410 liras last Friday, March 31, after seeing a historic hike -- around 3.94 liras -- in mid-January.

Borsa Istanbul's Gold Exchange index advanced 1.06 percent while the price of gold per kilogram increased to 151,700 Turkish liras (some $40,675) as of 4.30 p.m. (1330GMT), up from 149,550 Turkish liras (around $40,280) at Thursday's close.

On the last trading day of the week, the banking index advanced by 0.14 percent while the holding sector index was down by 0.80 percent.

Among all sectors, the telecommunication index was the best performer of the day, with an increase of 0.43 percent, while the construction sector was the worst, falling 2.77 percent.

Stocks of leading polyester producer SASA Polyester Sanayi (SASA) increased the most on Friday -- rising 3.13 percent -- while shares of energy and mining company Park Elektrik (PRKME) saw the largest decline of the day, decreasing 3.99 percent.

The five most-traded stocks were lenders Garanti and Halkbank, national flag-carrier Turkish Airlines, followed by another lender Akbank and tire manufacturer Goodyear.