Turkish shares down at close

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey’s benchmark index closed the day with a 277.93-point fall to stand at 88,669.47 points on Monday.

The BIST 100 index was down by 0.31 percent with a total trading volume of 2.5 billion Turkish liras (approximately $686 million), relatively low compared to the recent weeks.

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate was flat at 3.6400 liras as of 5 p.m. (1400GMT) Monday, compared with 3.6410 at Friday's close.

The Borsa Istanbul Gold Exchange index advanced by 0.2 percent while the price of gold per kilogram also increased to 146,200 Turkish liras (some $40,134) as of 4.30 p.m. (1330GMT), compared with 145,600 Turkish liras (around $39,976) at Friday's close.

On the first transaction day of the week, the banking sector index declined by 0.16 percent while the holding sector was flat with a 0.03 percent fall.

Among all sectors, the tourism index was the best performer of the day -- rising 3.37 percent -- while the metal products machinery sector was the worst, falling 1.37 percent.

Shares of ERBOSAN Erciyas Tube (ERBOS), tube and pipe manufacturer, were the top gainer of Monday, increasing 13.07 percent. Stocks of Gozde Girisim (GOZDE), a Turkish private equity firm controlled by food giant Ulker, were the worst performer of the day, declining 4.86 percent.

The five most-traded stocks were lenders Garanti and Halkbank, national flag carrier Turkish Airlines followed by oil refiner TUPRAS plus another lender Akbank.