Turkish stocks down nearly 2 pct at close

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index closed Thursday down 1.88 percent at 89,571.25 points with a record-breaking trading volume of around 12.3 billion Turkish liras ($2.5 billion).

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index ended the day with a 1,718.22-point decline from Wednesday's close of 91,289.47 points, while it started the day at 91,729.43 points.

The benchmark index saw the lowest level at 88,168.89 points and the highest at 92,466.45 points, while 39 stocks on the BIST 100 were on the rise, 57 fell, and four were flat compared to the previous close.

The total market value of listed shares on the BIST 100 was 592.6 billion Turkish liras ($124.8 billion) at the close, while the banking and holding sector indices fell 0.82 and 0.94 percent, respectively.

Among all sectors, the BIST mining index declined the most with a 5.87 percent drop, and the BIST transportation index saw the best performance, going up 4.85 percent.

Shares of brewer and soft drinks manufacturer Anadolu Efes (AEFES) were the worst performer, falling 7.74 percent while stocks of real estate investment trust Ozderici (OZGYO) were the top gainer, rising 12.00 percent.

On Thursday, the USD/TRY exchange rose to 4.8500 as of 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT), up from 4.7680 at Wednesday's close.

The euro/lira exchange rate was 5.6710 by market close, versus 5.6020 at Wednesday's close, and one British pound traded for 6.4170 Turkish liras, while the GBP/TRY rate was 6.3290 at the previous close.

As of 7 p.m. local time (1600GMT), the price of Brent oil stood at $73.45 per barrel -- hovering between $72.68 and $75.11 during the day -- while it was around $66 at the beginning of this year.