Turkish stocks flat at close

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index closed Tuesday up 0.03 percent to close at 118,831.60 points, with a total trading volume of 6 billion Turkish liras ($1.58 billion).

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index rose 39.69 points, up from Monday's close at 118,791.91 points.

On Tuesday, the BIST banking sector and holding sector indices climbed 0.04 percent and 1.07 percent, respectively.

Among all sectors, the holding sector index performed the best while the BIST tourism index dropped the most, losing 5.29 percent.

The stocks of private equity firm Gozde Girisim (GOZDE) performed the best, up 9.47 percent, while shares of appliances maker Vestel (VESTL) went down the most, falling 6.88 percent.

The five most-traded stocks were national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, real estate investment trust Emlak Konut, private lender Garanti, state lender Halkbank, and Vestel.

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate slightly rose to 3.7900 as of 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT) Tuesday. One dollar traded for 3.7860 liras at the market close on Monday.

The EUR/TRY exchange rate was stable at 4.6600 by market close, compared with 4.6610 at the previous close.

The BIST Gold Exchange index fell 0.36 percent, while the price of gold per kilogram rose to 162,250 Turkish liras ($42,790) as of 4.30 p.m. local time (1330GMT), up from 162,000 Turkish liras ($42,806) on Monday.

As of 6.50 p.m. local time (1550GMT) Tuesday, the price of Brent oil stood at $66.70, hovering between $66.69 and $67.42 during the day.