Turkey's Borsa Istanbul down over 1 pct at close

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index closed the day down 1,207.10 points to stand at 106,534.60 points with a trade volume of 4.7 billion Turkish liras (some $1.37 billion) on Monday.

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index fell 1.12 percent, from 107,741.70 points at closing on Friday, while the banking and holding sector indices went down 0.77 and 1.19 percent, respectively.

The wholesale and retail trade sector index was the only one to rise on Monday, with a 1.31 percent hike, and the BIST transportation index fell the most, going down 5.25 percent.

Shares of energy company Turcas Petrol (TRCAS) enjoyed the biggest rise of the day -- up 4.40 percent -- and iron/steel producer Kardemir Karabuk (KRDMD) was the worst performer, falling 7.60 percent.

The BIST 100's top five most-traded shares were national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, state lender Halkbank (HALKB), real estate investment trust Emlak Konut (EKGYO), Kardemir Karabuk (KRDMD), and private lender Garanti (GARAN).

Borsa Istanbul's Gold Exchange index went down 1.14 percent. The price of gold per kilogram rose to 146,300 Turkish liras ($41,958) as of 4.30 p.m. local time (1330GMT) on Monday, down from 146,000 Turkish liras ($42,470) at Friday's close.

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate climbed to 3.4660 by 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT) Monday, up from 3.4350 at Friday's close.

One dollar was traded for 3.51 on average last month, while the first eight months' average exchange rate was 3.61.

The USD/TRY rate saw sharp fluctuations after last year's defeated coup and climbed to its historic hike -- around 3.94 liras -- in mid-January this year.

According to Turkish Central Bank data, the dollar/lira rate was 3.02 on average last year and 2.71 on average in 2015.