Turkish stocks down at close

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index went down 0.48 percent to close at 115,491.19 points on Thursday.

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index slipped 560.96 points from Wednesday's close with a trading volume of 8.3 billion Turkish liras ($2.2 billion).

The banking and holding sector indices decreased by 1.04 and 0.41 percent, respectively.

Among all sectors, the electricity index performed the best -- rising 34.28 percent -- while the telecommunication index fell the most with a 1.59 percent decline.

Odas Elektrik, an energy company, was the top gainer on Thursday as its shares rose by 9.49 percent. The stocks of poultry and feed producer Banvit suffered the biggest drop of the day, going down 2.18 percent.

Thursday's top shares with the highest trade volume in the BIST 100 were national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, state lender Halkbank, iron and steel producer Karabuk Kardemir, private lender Garanti and automotive manufacturer Karsan Otomotiv.

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate increased slightly to 3.7680 as of 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT) Thursday, up from 3.7660 at Wednesday's close. The average USD/TRY was 3.64 in 2017.

One euro traded for 4.5500 liras by local market close, showing an increase compared to Wednesday's closing EUR/TRY exchange rate at 4.5320.

The BIST Gold Exchange index closed the day down 0.22 percent, while the price of gold per kilogram was 158,950 Turkish liras ($42,181) as of 5.00 p.m. local time (1400GMT), down from the previous closing price of 159,250 Turkish liras (around $42,309).

The price of Brent oil fell to $67.70 per barrel as of 6.18 p.m. local time (1518GMT) Thursday, compared to Wednesday's close at $67.84.