Turkey's benchmark stock index closes day down

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index fell 0.79 percent to close at 110,058.62 points on Tuesday with a trade volume of around 5.9 billion Turkish liras ($1.4 billion).

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index ended the day with a 873.86-point drop from Friday's close of 110,932.48 points, while it opened the first business day of the week at 110,630.37 points, also down 0.27 percent. There were no transactions on Monday due to Turkey’s National Sovereignty and Children’s Day holiday.

The USD/TRY exchange stood at 4.0910 as of 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT) Tuesday, versus 4.0580 at Friday's close.

The euro/lira exchange rate rose to 4.9980 by market close -- down from 4.9780 at the previous close -- and one British pound traded for 5.7260 Turkish liras versus 5.6960 at the previous close.

The BIST Gold Exchange index was down by 1.68 percent at the daily close. In the Precious Metals and Diamond Markets of Borsa Istanbul, one ounce of gold traded for $1,320.00 as of 4.30 p.m. local time (1330GMT) Tuesday, compared with $1,342.50 at Friday's close.

As of 6 p.m. local time (1500GMT), the price of Brent oil stood at $75.14 per barrel -- hovering between $74.56 and $75.46 during Tuesday -- climbing from around $66 at the beginning of this year.