Turkish stocks down at midweek open

BIST 100 index loses around 59.5 points in opening session

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey’s benchmark stock index opened at 1,832.14 points on Wednesday, down 3.14% or 59.48 points, from the previous close.

The BIST 100 index of the Borsa Istanbul fell 7.99% to close on Tuesday at 1,892.02 points, with a daily trading volume of 37.5 billion liras ($2.87 billion).

Analysts said the downward trend stemmed from the Treasury and Finance Ministry's new measure in which Turkey will compensate lira depositors for foreign currency fluctuations, while encouraging citizens to move towards Turkish lira-based assets.

The US dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate dropped to 12.6430 as of 9.30 a.m. local time (0630GMT), versus 12.7720 at the previous close.

The euro/lira exchange rate rose to 14.3190 from 14.2910, while one British pound traded for 16.9590 liras, down from 17.0060.

A barrel of Brent crude oil was sold for around $73.88 as of 10 a.m. local time (0700GMT).

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