Turkish stocks continue to hover near 120,000 points

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index fell by 1.28 percent to close at 119,303.10 points on Tuesday, continuing to hover near 120,000 points after hitting its all-time peak the previous day.

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index fell 1,542.2 points from its highest-ever close on Monday, with a 7.3 billion Turkish lira ($1.94 billion) trade volume. The BIST 100 reached its all-time high on Monday, reaching 121,531.50 points during trading hours.

On Tuesday, the banking and holding indices went down 2.17 and 0.42 percent, respectively. Among all sectors, the BIST insurance index was the top gainer with a 1.23 percent hike, whereas the BIST telecommunication index was the worst performer, going down 3.36 percent.

Stocks of GSD Holding, a group of companies heavily involved in finance and shipping, showed the best performance of the day, gaining 20 percent, while stocks of pipe and tube producer Erbosan suffered the largest drop, falling 3.25 percent.

Top traded stocks of the BIST 100 were flag carrier Turkish Airlines, diesel engine and tractor manufacturer Tumosan Motor, defense company Aselsan, followed by lenders Garanti and Halkbank.

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira rate slightly decreased to 3.7680 as of 5.00 p.m. local time (1400GMT) Tuesday, compared with Monday's closing rate of 3.7810. Last week, the USD/TRY rate fell by 1.2 percent -- down from above 3.80 -- while the average rate was 3.65 last year and 3.03 in 2016.

Conversely, the euro/lira rate saw an increase, standing at 4.6890 by market close, versus 4.6780 at Monday's close.

On Tuesday, the BIST Gold Exchange index rose by 0.30 percent, with the price of gold per kilogram at 162,900 Turkish liras ($43,263) as of 5.00 p.m. local time (1400GMT), down from 163,400 Turkish liras ($43,101) on Monday.

The price of Brent crude oil continued its downward trend, falling to $68.10 per barrel as of 6.30 p.m. local time (1530GMT) Tuesday compared with the previous close of $69.55. It was over $70 last Friday.