Turkish stocks down over 1.75 pct at close

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index was down 1,852.68 points to close at 102,270.17 points with a 4.8 billion Turkish lira (nearly $1.36 billion) trading volume on Monday.

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index fell 1.78 percent compared with Friday's close at 104,122.85, while the banking and holding sector indices were down 2 and 2.35 percent, respectively.

Among all sectors, the basic metal sector index was the only one to increase on Monday -- up 0.05 percent -- while the BIST transportation index was the worst performer, declining 6.23 percent.

There were only four companies that saw rise in their shares and stocks of oil refiner Tupras enjoyed the biggest rise of the day with 1.36 percent hike. Shares of commercial vehicle manufacturer Karsan Otomotiv saw the biggest drop with 8.33 percent fall.

The top traded shares of the BIST 100 were national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, defense company Aselsan, iron/steel producer Kardemir Karabuk, private lender Garanti and energy company Ipek Dogal Enerji.

Borsa Istanbul's Gold Exchange index advanced 0.15 percent and the price of gold per kilogram stood at 146,400 Turkish liras ($41,541) as of 4.30 p.m. local time (1330GMT) Monday.

The USD/TRY exchange rate stood at 3.5250 by 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT) Monday, climbed from 3.4990 at Friday's close.

One dollar was traded for 3.51 on average last month, while the first eight month's average exchange rate was 3.61.

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

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