Turkish stocks down at Thursday's close

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index ended Thursday at 122,540.22 points, down 0.17% from the previous close.

Starting the day at 122,392.42 points, Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index slipped 206.85 points from the midweek close at 122,747.08 points.

During Thursday's trading, the BIST 100 hovered between 122,188.20 points and 123,457.40 points, with 46 stocks on the index rising, 52 falling and two flat compared to the previous close.

Closing the day with a market value of nearly 842.5 billion Turkish liras ($142.1 billion), the benchmark index posted a daily trading volume of 11.7 billion Turkish liras (nearly $2 billion).

Shares of national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, private lender Garanti BBVA and state lender Halkbank posted the highest trading volumes.

Stocks of Karel Elektronik, manufacturer and supplier of telecommunication equipments, gained the most -- up 5.87%--, while shares of energy company Ipek Dogal Enerji did the worst, falling 4.18%.

An ounce of gold sold for $1,554.75 at the daily close in Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets, versus $1,555.50 at the previous close.

The price of Brent oil was $61.43 per barrel as of 6.10 p.m. local time (1510GMT) on Thursday, with a day range of $61.26 to $62.76.