Turkish stocks down at close

By Dilara Zengin

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index was down 1.10 percent to close at 115,022.81 points on Tuesday, with a total trading volume of 6.3 billion Turkish liras ($1.7 billion).

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index lost 1,281.70 points from Monday's close of 116,304.51 points.

The banking and holding sector indices decreased by 1.23 and 0.50 percent, respectively.

Among all sectors, the tourism sector index performed the best -- rising 1.66 percent -- while the leasing and factoring sector index fell the most, going down 3.44 percent.

Energy company Isiklar Enerji Yapı Holding was the top gainer on Tuesday as the value of its stocks rose by 2.56 percent. The stocks of leading textile company Mavi Giyim suffered the biggest drop of the day, losing 6.79 percent in value.

Tuesday's top shares with the highest trade volume were national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, state lender Halkbank, electronics appliances manufacturer Vestel, iron and steel producer Kardemir and private lender Garanti.

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate increased to 3.7610 as of 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT) Tuesday, up from 3.7510 at Monday's close.

One euro traded for 4.4870 liras by market close, showing a decrease compared to the previous day's closing rate of 4.4910.

The BIST Gold Exchange index closed the day down 0.45 percent, while the price of gold per kilogram was 159,000 Turkish liras ($42,260) as of 5.00 p.m. local time (1400GMT), up from Monday's closing price of 158,500 Turkish liras (around $42,251).

The price of Brent oil fell to $67.83 per barrel as of 6.30 p.m. local time (1530GMT) Tuesday, compared to Monday's close of $67.78.