Turkish shares down at close

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey’s main stock index closed the day with a 797.36-point decline to stand at 89,809.09 points on Wednesday.

The BIST 100 fell 0.88 percent during a day’s trading worth 4.1 billion Turkish liras ($1.13 billion).

The banking and holding sectors fell by 0.92 and 0.56 percent, respectively. The construction index was the day’s best performer -- rising 2.12 percent -- while the transportation index was the worst one for the second trading day in a row, falling 3.77 percent in value.

The five most traded stocks were Turkish Airlines and lenders Garanti and Halkbank, followed by real estate investment trust Vakif GYO, plus the country's major petrochemical producer Petkim.

Shares of commercial vehicle manufacturer Karsan (KARSN) were Wednesday's top gainer with an increase of 5.17 percent, while yesterday's top performer, real estate investment trust, Vakif GYO, suffered the largest decline of the day, down 7.12 percent.

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate increased to stand over 3.60. A dollar was worth 3.6240 liras as of 5.00 p.m. (1400GMT) Wednesday, compared with 3.5930 at Tuesday's close.

The dollar traded for 3.6170 liras last Friday, March 17, after seeing a historic hike -- around 3.94 liras -- in mid-January.

The Borsa Istanbul Gold Exchange index advanced by 1.46 percent while the price of gold per kilogram increased to 145,250 Turkish liras (some $39,966) as of 4.30 p.m. (1330GMT), compared with 142,986 Turkish liras ($39,574) at Tuesday's close.