Turkish stocks end Thursday 1.76% down

ANKARA

Turkey's benchmark stock index ended Thursday down 1.76% to close at 88,685.88 points.

After starting the day at 90,312.49 points, Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index fell 1,586.31 points from 90,272.19 points at Wednesday's close.

Peaking at 90,696.56 points, the BIST 100's daily low was 88,647.56 points during Thursday's trading -- 17 stocks on the index rose, 80 fell, and three were flat compared to the previous close.

Closing the day with a market value of some 588 billion Turkish liras ($95.5 billion), the benchmark index posted a daily trading volume of 5.17 billion Turkish liras ($833 million).

By market capitalization, Turkish conglomerate Koc Holding ($6.26 billion), private lenders Garanti BBVA ($5.13 billion) and Akbank ($4.74) were the leading companies of BIST 100.

Shares of national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, Garanti BBVA, and defense company Aselsan recorded the highest trading volumes on Thursday -- accounting for around 39% of the benchmark index's total trade volume.

Stocks of prominent sports club Fenerbahce (FENER) were the top gainers -- up 5.29% -- as shares of energy and construction company Isiklar Enerji Yapi Holding (IEYHO) did the worst with an 18.18% decline.

One ounce of gold was sold for $1,283.50 at the daily close in Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets, versus $1,289.80 at the previous close.

The price of Brent oil was $69.94 per barrel as of 6.15 p.m. local time (1515GMT) on Thursday -- with a day range of $69.41 to $70.64.

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