Turkish stocks down at close after holiday break

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index closed Tuesday down 1,137.50 points or 1.03 percent to stand at 108,872.99 points, after a four-and-a-half-day break for the Muslim holiday of Eid Al-Adha.

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index started the day up with a 0.31 percent hike to open at 110,349.12 points, compared to closing at 110,010.49 points on Thursday -- last week’s final trading day.

On the first trading day of the week, the total trading volume of the benchmark index was 5.4 billion Turkish liras (around $1.57 billion), while the banking and holding sector indices were down 1.69 and 1.81 percent respectively.

Tuesday’s fall came shortly after the BIST 100 saw its highest peak at 110,530.75 points during trading on Monday, Aug. 28.

Since the beginning of this year, the BIST 100 has risen around 40 percent, compared to a close of 77,754.46 points on Jan. 2 -- the first trading day of 2017.

Among all sectors, the BIST mining index rose the most on Tuesday -- up 3.87 percent -- while the non-metal mineral product sector index did the worst, falling 1.84 percent.

Shares of energy and mining company Park Elektrik (PRKME) were the top gainer of the day, up 8.67 percent, and stocks of investment trust Global Yatirim Holding (GLYHO) fell the most, down 5.11 percent.

The BIST 100's most-traded stocks were national flag carrier Turkish Airlines (THYAO), private lender Garanti (GARAN), mining company Koza Madencilik (KOZAA), followed by state lender Halkbank (HALKB) and sports club Galatasaray Sportif (GSRAY).

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate fell to 3.4330 by 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT) Tuesday, compared with 3.4630 on Thursday, Aug. 31.

One dollar was exchanged for 3.51 on average last month, while the first eight months' average USD/TRY rate was 3.61.

According to Turkish Central Bank data, the dollar/lira rate was 3.02 on average last year and 2.71 on average in 2015.

The dollar-lira rate saw its historic high in mid-January this year, climbing to around 3.94.

The exchange rate saw sharp fluctuations after last year's defeated coup attempt and climbed to its historic hike -- around 3.94 liras -- in mid-January this year.

Borsa Istanbul's Gold Exchange index was up 1.08 percent while the price of gold per kilogram stood at 147,800 Turkish liras ($43,051) as of 4.30 p.m. local time (1330GMT) Tuesday.