Turkish stocks down at close

By Tuba Sahin

ISTANBUL (AA) - Turkey’s benchmark index closed the day 493.18 points down on Wednesday to stand at 93,862.74 points.

Borsa Istanbul’s BIST 100 index dropped by 0.52 percent while the total trading volume was 4.2 billion Turkish liras ($1.2 billion).

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate decreased to 3.5320 liras as of 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT) Wednesday, compared with 3.5400 liras at Tuesday's close.

Borsa Istanbul's gold exchange index fell 0.02 percent, with gold selling at 143,000 liras ($40,437) per kilogram as of 4.30 p.m. local time (1330GMT), down from 142,600 liras ($40,243) at Tuesday’s close.

The banking and holding indices fell 0.70 and 0.28 percent, respectively and the transport index was the best performer with an increase of 1.07 percent. Construction was the worst-performing sector, falling 1.25 percent.

Stocks of energy and mining company Park Elektrik climbed the most, rising 4.06 percent, while shares of Gozde Girisim (GOZDE), a Turkish private equity firm controlled by food giant Ulker, suffered the greatest slump, falling 3.69 percent.

On Wednesday, Turkey's annual inflation rate rose to 11.87 in April from 11.29 percent in March, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) announced.

Meanwhile, monthly inflation also climbed 1.31 percent in April over the previous month, in parallel with expert predictions.

Turkey will see a single-digit inflation rate by the end of 2017, Deputy Prime Minister Nurettin Canikli predicted on Wednesday.

“We will see this [drop] not only in inflation but also in unemployment at the end of the year,” Canikli told journalists in London where he was holding a series of meetings.

Stating he had met investors and those interested in doing business in Turkey, Canikli said direct investment had gathered pace in recent years.