UPDATE - Turkish stocks end week 0.25% down

UPDATES WITH MORE DAILY FIGURES

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index ended the week down 0.25% to close at 93,946.08 points on Friday.

After starting the day at 94,245.42 points, Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index fell 233.29 points from 94,179.37 points at Thursday's close.

On a weekly basis, the benchmark index posted a 0.88% decline, although it has climbed 5.72% from 88,865.01 points at the close on the first business day of 2019.

Peaking at 94,395.92 points, the BIST 100's daily low was 93,475.69 points during Friday's trading -- 46 stocks on the index rose, 44 fell, and 10 were flat compared to the previous close.

Closing the week with a market value of some 623 billion Turkish liras ($105 billion), the benchmark index posted a daily trading volume of 3.91 billion Turkish liras ($655 million).

Turkish conglomerate Koc Holding ($6.97 billion), private lender Garanti BBVA ($5.73 billion), iron and steel producer Eregli ($5.29 billion) were the BIST 100's leading companies by market capitalization.

Stocks of Garanti BBVA, national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, and prominent sports club Galatasaray posted the highest trading volumes on Friday -- accounting for nearly 37% of the benchmark index's total trade volume.

Shares of conglomerate Ittifak Holding performed the best, rising 8.19%, as another major sports club Besiktas (BJKAS) saw the biggest drop, falling 5.48%.

One ounce of gold was sold for $1,270.25 at the weekly close in Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets, versus $1,270.00 at Thursday's close.

The price of Brent oil was $71.19 per barrel as of 6 p.m. local time (1500GMT) on Friday -- with a day range of $69.97 to $71.25.

At the beginning of 2019, a barrel of Brent oil was sold for around $53.