Turkish stock exchange down at close

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - The Turkish benchmark stock index closed Monday at 8,699.19 points, down 1.99% from the previous close.

The BIST 100 index started the week at 8,885.45 points, and lost 177.03 points at close compared to Friday.

The lowest value of the index for the day was 8,680.72, while its daily high was 8,887.19.

While 91 indices dropped during the day, nine gained value.

The total transaction volume reached 67 billion Turkish liras ($1.97 billion), while the overall value of the index was 7.56 trillion liras ($221.4 billion).

The USD/TRY exchange rate was 34.2590 as of 7:10 p.m. local time (1610GMT), the EUR/TRY rate stood at 37.3910 and the GBP/TRY traded at 44.7135.

The price of an ounce of gold was $2,646.50, while a barrel price of Brent oil was around $77.