Turkish shares down at close of Borsa Istanbul

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey’s benchmark index was down 1.99 percent at the close of the daily session Thursday.

The BIST 100 index lost 1,475.35 points to close at 72,519.85. The total trading volume of the country's stock exchange was 3.1 billion Turkish liras (approx. $888.43 million).

On the fourth day of the week, the banking and holding sector indices fell 1.34 and 2.05 percent, respectively.

Among sector indices, the construction index rose the most – 0.46 percent – while the leasing factoring index was the worst performer with a drop of 7.10 percent.

The most heavily traded stocks were lenders Garanti Bank, Halkbank, Akbank, Is Bankasi, and national flag carrier Turkish Airlines.

Shares of travel company Metro were the top percent gainer with a rise of 14.12 percent, while media company Hurgz saw an 8.82 percent fall, the biggest of the day.

The Borsa Istanbul Gold Exchange index fell 1.10 percent in value, with gold trading at 130,350 Turkish liras (about $37.39) per kilogram.

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate was higher on the fourth day of the week and stood at 3.4860 by 5 p.m. (1400GMT), compared to 3.4230 at Wednesday's close.