Turkish stocks go down at close

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey’s benchmark index went down 0.52 percent at the close of its daily session Friday.

The BIST 100 index fell 406.31 points to close at 78,332.87. The total trading volume of the country's stock exchange market was 1.6 billion Turkish liras (approximately $514 million).

On the last trading day of the week, Turkey's stock exchange market closed at noon (0900 GMT) due to the upcoming Republic Day on Saturday, which is an official holiday.

The banking sector index was down 0.23 percent, while the holding sector index fell 0.57 percent. Among the sector indices, the construction sector index went up the most with a 0.71 rise, and the tourism sector index went down the most with a 5.23 percent decline.

The most largely-traded shares were of the private lender, Garanti Bank, the country's national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, a top Istanbul based sports club Galatasaray, state lender Halkbank, and durable goods producer Vestel.

The shares of Turkey's leading tractor producer, Turk Traktor, were deemed as the top percent gainer with an increase of 2.30 percent in value, while the transportation company Metro was the top percent loser when its shares fell 3.64 percent.

The Turkish lira lost value against the U.S. dollar to trade at 3.1220 Friday afternoon, compared to Thursday's closing rate of 3.1030.

Analysts say investors are expected to follow the Fed's interest rate decision and non-farm payrolls data of the U.S., which is set to be released next week. Internally, Turkey's inflation figures will also be monitored by investors in the coming week.