Turkish stocks flat at close

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark index decreased 96.94 points to close at 107,206.31 points on Tuesday.

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index went down by 0.09 percent with a 5.9 billion Turkish lira ($1.59 billion) trade volume.

The BIST banking and holding indexes were down 0.39 percent and 0.17 percent, respectively.

Among all sectors, the basic metal index advanced the most with a 2.17 percent hike, while the mining sector index fell the most with a 2.57 percent.

The BIST 100 stocks with the highest trade volume were national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, defence company Aselsan, a private lender Garanti, iron and steel producer Kardemir Karabuk and state lender Halk Bankası

Shares of Vestel (VESTL), one of Turkey's leading electronics/appliances manufacturers, enjoyed the highest rise of the day -- up 3.12 percent.

Stocks of the energy and mining company Ipek Dogal Enerji performed the worst, with stocks falling 4.55 percent.

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira rate stood at 3.7250 as of 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT) on Tuesday, a climb from 3.7060 at Monday's close.

On Tuesday, the BIST Gold Exchange index was up by 0.38 percent while the price of gold per kilogram was 152,650 Turkish liras ($41,053) as of 4.30 p.m. local time (1330GMT).