Turkish stocks down at Monday's close

By Aysu Bicer

ANKARA (AA) - Amid rising fears of the coronavirus outbreak, Turkey's benchmark stock index closed Monday at 114,789.21 points, down 1.75% from the previous close.

There are no known cases of the virus in Turkey, but news of coronavirus' spread in Iran and Italy, among other countries, weighed heavily on global investors Monday.

During the day, the index hovered between 113,729.52 points and 114,984.40 points.

The total market value of the BIST 100 was around 798 billion Turkish liras (about $130 billion) by market close, with a daily trading volume of 12.5 billion Turkish liras ($2 billion).

On the first transaction day of the week, 29 stocks on the index rose and 67 were down compared to Friday.

The highest trading volumes were posted by national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, defense giant Aselsan, and energy firm Ipek Dogal Madencilik.

Ipek Dogal Madencilik was the best performer, with its shares up 6.67%, while Turkish Airlines suffered the biggest decline, with its shares going down 4.55%.

The price of one ounce of gold was $1,681.60 by market close, up from $1,634.80 at the previous close, according to data from Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets.

Due to coronavirus concerns, investors turned to secure investment tools. Gold prices rose to the highest levels in the last seven years.

The price of Brent crude oil was around $55.27 per barrel as of 6 p.m. (1500GMT) on Monday.