Turkey's Borsa Istanbul down at close

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index closed Thursday down 0.36 percent at 107,015.13 points with a trading volume of around 5.8 billion Turkish liras ($1.4 billion).

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index ended the day with a 386.25-point drop from Wednesday's close of 107,401.38 points, while it opened the day at 107,892.39 points, up 0.46 percent.

The USD/TRY exchange fell slightly to 4.0720 as of 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT) Thursday, down from 4.0940 at Wednesday's close.

The euro/lira exchange rate also went down to 4.9520 by market close -- versus 4.9920 at the previous close -- and one British pound traded for 5.7100 Turkish liras, showing no change from the previous close.

The BIST Gold Exchange index fell by 0.15 percent at the close. In Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets, one ounce of gold traded for $1,320.00 as of 4.30 p.m. local time (1330GMT) Thursday, compared with $1,322.00 at Wednesday's close.

As of 6 p.m. local time (1500GMT), the price of Brent oil stood at $74.66 per barrel -- hovering between $73.98 and $74.97 during Thursday -- climbing from around $66 at the beginning of this year.