Turkish shares down at close

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey’s benchmark stock index closed the day down 0.64 percent at 107,699.72 points on Friday.

On the last trading day of the week, the BIST 100 fell 691.99 points with a total trading volume of 4.5 billion Turkish liras (around $1.27 billion).

On Thursday, Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index climbed to 108,605.51 points -- historic peak -- and posted its highest close ever at 108,391.71.

The benchmark index advanced 0.80 percent this week, compared with last Friday's close at 106,842.79 points while the rise was 1.58 percent for the previous week.

Since the beginning of this year, Turkey's benchmark index has risen 38.5 percent, compared with its close at 77,754.46 points on Jan. 2, the year’s first trading day.

On Friday, the banking and holding sectors were down 0.76 and 0.52 percent, respectively. Among all sectors, the BIST mining index was the best performer for the third day in a row, up 0.74 percent, while the insurance sector index fell the most, down 1.62 percent.

Stocks of Turkish conglomerate Ihlas Holding (IHLAS) performed the best on Friday, up 7.84 percent, while shares of Kipa (KIPA), which operates supermarkets in major Turkish cities, saw the biggest drop, falling 4.31 percent.

The five most-traded stocks were national flag carrier Turkish Airlines (THYAO), mining company Koza Madencilik (KOZAA), energy company Ipek Dogal Enerji (IPEKE), followed by private lender Garanti (GARAN) and telecommunication giant Turkcell (TCELL).

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate slightly increased to 3.5320 as of 5 p.m. (1400GMT) on Friday, compared with 3.5260 at Thursday’s close.

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchanged rate has not changed on a weekly basis. Last Friday, July 21, one dollar was traded for 3.5320 Turkish liras.

The exchange rate saw its historic high in mid-January this year by climbing to around 3.94.

Borsa Istanbul's Gold Exchange index was flat with a 0.08 percent decrease, while the price of gold per kilogram stood at 143,000 Turkish liras (around $40,440) as of 4.30 p.m. (1330GMT) on Friday, down from 143,250 Turkish liras (some $40,567) at Thursday's close.

Last Friday, the price of gold per kilogram was 141,800 Turkish liras (approximately $40,184), marking a 0.84 percent rise for this week.