UPDATE - Turkey's Borsa Istanbul down at close

UPDATES WITH MORE DAILY FIGURES

By Gokhan Ergocun

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index closed Monday down 0.15 percent at 102,257.65 points with a trading volume of around 5.4 billion Turkish liras (nearly $1.2 billion).

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index ended the day with a 152.65-point decrease from the last week's close of 102,410.30 points, while it opened the day at 102,166.51 points, down 0.24 percent.

The benchmark index hovered between 101,893.10 points and 103,317.88 points, while 37 stocks on the index were on the rise, 18 on the decline, and 45 flat compared to the previous close.

The total market value of listed shares on the Borsa Istanbul was around 834 billion Turkish liras (nearly $182.5 billion) at the close, while the banking and holding sector indices dropped 0.35 percent and 0.93 percent, respectively.

Among all sectors, the leasing factoring sector index was the best performer, rising 3.33 percent, and the sports sector index saw the biggest drop, declining 1.99 percent.

The stocks of polyester producer Sasa climbed the most, up 4.11 percent, while the stocks of energy and construction company Isiklar were the worst, falling 6.45 percent.

The BIST 100's most-traded listed companies were flag carrier Turkish Airlines, iron/steel producer Kardemir, private lender Garanti, state lender Halkbank, polyester producer Sasa.

The USD/TRY exchange rose to 4.5920 as of 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT) Monday, compared with 4.4920 at Friday's close.

The euro/lira exchange rate also increased to 5.4010 by market close, versus 5.2810 at the previous close, and one British pound was traded 6.1760 Turkish liras, compared with 6.0500 at Friday's close.

The BIST Gold Exchange index fell by 0.31 percent at the close. In Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets, one ounce of gold traded for $1,283.00 as of 4.30 p.m. local time (1330GMT) Monday, compared to $1,287.00 at previous close.

The price of Brent oil dropped to $78.51 per barrel as of 18.00 a.m. local time (1500GMT) Monday, from $79.25 at the last week's close. During the last week, it saw over $80 level for the first time since Oct. 2014. It was over $110 in the first half of 2014 and around $60 by the end of 2014. It was at its lowest level in the beginning of 2016, at $34.70.

Turkey's assets abroad increased by 1.1 percent to $230.5 billion from the end of 2017 to March 2018, the Turkish Central Bank reported Monday. The net international investment position (NIIP) -- the gap between Turkey’s assets abroad and liabilities -- reached minus $443.7 billion at the end of this March compared to minus $455.4 billion at the end of 2017.

Turkish government’s gross debt stock rose by 15.8 percent to 921.1 billion Turkish liras (nearly $226.8 billion) at the end of April, the Undersecretariat of Treasury announced on Monday. The stock of Treasury receivables amounted to 17.3 billion Turkish liras (some $4.26 billion) as of April 30.