Turkish stocks open slightly lower

ANKARA (AA) – Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index declined 0.18 percent to open at 77,418.66 points on Monday, Oct. 17.

The country's benchmark index lost 135.75 points while the banking sector and holding sector indices decreased by 0.35 percent and 0.08 percent respectively.

On the first day of the week, among the sector indexes, the insurance sector was most advanced with a 0.39 percent rise. The leasing and factoring sector index fell in a 0.71 percent decline.

Analysts said investors would follow the country's central bank's expectation survey domestically. Externally, investors are expected to follow the ongoing Mosul offensive to liberate the Iraqi city from Daesh plus U.S. industry production figures as well as eurozone inflation data.

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate, which was at 3.0760 by the time markets closed on Friday, stood at 3.0920 early Monday.