UPDATE - Turkey's Borsa Istanbul down over 1.5 pct at close

UPDATE WITH MORE DAILY FIGURES

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index dropped by 1.65 percent to close at 87,399.02 points on Thursday.

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index started the day at 88,375.86 points and lost 1,465.99 points from Wednesday's close of 88,865.01 points.

The benchmark index hovered between 87,399.02 and 89,544.58 points, during Thursday's trading.

Total market value of the BIST 100 was around 565.4 billion Turkish liras ($106 billion) as of market's closing, and the daily trade volume was 5.06 billion lira ($932.13 million).

On the day, while 12 stocks on the index were on the rise, 86 were on the decline, and two were flat compared to the previous close.

Top listed companies were Turkish conglomerate Koc Holding ($6.4 billion), private lender Garanti ($5.8 billion), and energy company Tupras ($5.2 billion) by market value.

Highest trade volumes were posted by national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, Garanti, and defense company Aselsan.

Shares of event organize Flap were the top gainers -- up 4.67 percent -- as stocks of conglomerate Verusa Holding fell the most with a 7.50-percent drop.

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate was 5.5040 at close, up from Wednesday's close of 5.3830.

The euro/lira rate increased at close; 6.2500 versus 6.1220 at the previous close.

One British pound traded for 6.9250 Turkish liras, while the GBP/TRY rate was 6.7990 at close on Wednesday.

In Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets, the price of one ounce of gold was around $1,287.45 by market close, down from $1,288.40 the previous day.

The price of Brent crude oil stood at around $55.20 per barrel as of 6 p.m. (1500GMT) Thursday, versus $55.32 at previous close.