Turkey's Borsa Istanbul ends day with losses

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index closed Thursday down 1.73 percent at 102,909.13 points with a trade volume of around 7 billion Turkish liras ($1.67 billion).

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index ended the day with a 1,816.61-point fall from Wednesday's close of 104,725.74 points, while it opened the day at 104,734.98 points.

The USD/TRY exchange rose to 4.2100 as of 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT) Thursday, versus 4.1770 at Wednesday's close.

The euro/lira exchange rate stood at 5.0430 by market close, compared with 5.0020 at the previous close, while the British pound/lira exchange rate was 5.7320, up from 5.6900 at Wednesday's close.

The BIST Gold Exchange index increased by 0.46 percent at close. In Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets, one ounce of gold traded for $1,314.00 as of 4.30 p.m. local time (1330GMT) Thursday, compared with $1,308.00 at Wednesday's close.

As of 6 p.m. local time (1500GMT), the price of Brent oil stood at $72.88 per barrel -- hovering between $72.50 and $73.64 during Thursday -- climbing from around $66 at the beginning of this year.