Turkish stocks fall amid European bank worries

ANKARA (AA) - Turkish stocks ended a low trading week with modest declines on Friday amid investor concerns about the European banking sector after a report said certain funds had withdrawn their positions in the largest German lender Deutsche Bank.

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100, the country’s benchmark index, closed 0.76 percent (588.42 points) lower at 76,488.38.

On the last trading day of the week, the banking sector index lost about 0.88 percent; the holding and mining sector indices were also down 0.92 percent and 1.61 percent respectively.

However, the tourism sector ended 2.66 percent higher for the day, with a total trading volume of 3 billion Turkish liras ($1 billion).

Borsa Istanbul's most actively traded stocks belonged to national flag-carrier Turkish Airlines, state lender Halkbank plus private lenders Akbank, Garanti Bank, Tekfen Holding and cement maker Afyon Cimento.

Nurol (DGATE) -- real estate investment trust-- saw the largest increase of 9.70 percent.

On the other end, Besiktas Futbol Yat. (BJKAS), Istanbul soccer club, lost 3.40 percent on Friday after losing 7.35 percent the previous day.

Increasing stocks outnumbered rising ones by 232 to 126 and 141 ended unchanged.

- Gold price down -

The Borsa Istanbul Gold Exchange index rose 0.69 percent in value on Friday compared to Thursday’s closing, with gold trading at 127,850 Turkish liras per kilogram.

Turkey's currency fell against the U.S. dollar, standing at over three liras compared to the the previous day’s close of 2.9935.

Analysts stressed that concerns about the European banking sector had a negative impact on stock markets worldwide and led investors to act cautiously.

Shares of German lender Deutsche Bank have plunged by almost 30 percent in just three weeks because of a $14 billion fine from the U.S. in early September for misconduct on mortgage backed securities.