Turkish stocks down 0.83 pct at close

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA

Turkey's benchmark stock index went down 0.83 percent to close at 92,692.17 points on Wednesday.

Starting the day at 93,887.71 points, Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index ended the day with a 776.82-point fall from the previous close.

The BIST 100's daily low on Wednesday was 92,771.10 points, while it peaked at 94,158.57 points. Compared with the previous close, 27 stocks on the index rose, 61 fell, and 12 were flat.

The BIST 100's daily trade volume was 5.6 billion liras ($984 million), as private lender Garanti Bankasi, national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, state-run lender Halkbank, iron and steel producer Kardemir, and defense company Aselsan posted the highest trade volumes.

The benchmark index had a total market value of around 606 billion liras ($105 billion) at close, while top companies were Turkish conglomerate Koc Holding ($6.94 billion), iron and steel producer Eregli Demir Celik ($5.67 billion), and energy giant Tupras ($5.61 billion).

Stocks of Turkish sports club Fenerbahce (FENER) enjoyed the biggest rise -- up 8.21 percent -- and shares of leasing company Is Finansal Kiralama (ISFIN) dropped the most, falling 9.20 percent.

Among all sectors, the largest decline was seen by the BIST leasing factoring index as it fell 6.05 percent, while the BIST telecommunication index showed the best performance, rising 3.69 percent.

By market close, the USD/TRY exchange rate was 5.6950, as one dollar was traded for 5.7910 liras at close on Tuesday.

The euro/lira rate also saw a decline during midweek trading hours, standing at 6.5030 compared to 6.6420 at the previous close.

The British pound/Turkish lira exchange rate fell to 7.3820, while the GBP/TRY was 7.5270 at Tuesday's close.

In Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets, one ounce of gold was sold for $1,231.00 at Wednesday's close, while the price was $1,234.50 at the previous close.

Hovering between $75.12 and $77.03 during Wednesday's trading, the price of Brent oil was around $76.65 per barrel as of 5.50 p.m. local time (1450GMT).

One barrel of Brent oil was sold for $66 at the beginning of this year.