Turkish stocks down over 2.5 pct at close

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index suffered a steep fall -- down 2,839.48 points -- to close at 101,298 points on Monday, with a 6.1 billion Turkish lira ($1.64 billion) trade volume.

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index went down by 2.73 percent, following a visa dispute between the U.S. and Turkey and Turkish Armed Forces' operation in Idlib, Syria.

Last week, the BIST 100 had advanced 1.2 percent on a weekly basis and closed at 104,137.48 points on Friday.

The U.S. on Sunday suspended all non-immigrant visa operations at all U.S. diplomatic facilities in Turkey., saying it was reassessing Turkey's commitment to the security of U.S. facilities and personnel.

Turkey retaliated by suspending non-immigrant visa service in the U.S. citing security concerns.

Last week, Turkish national Metin Topuz, confirmed by the U.S. Istanbul Consulate as a local employee, was remanded in custody on terror charges by an Istanbul court.

This weekend, Turkish troops also began reconnaissance activities in Syria’s Idlib province to establish de-escalation zones under a deal agreed with Russia and Iran.

-US dollar/Turkish lira rate climbs above 3.70

On the first transaction day of the week, the BIST banking and holding indexes were down by 2.98 and 3.01 percent, respectively. The BIST transportation index dropped the most, falling 8.41 percent, while all sector indexes also declined.

Stocks of Turkish Airlines (THYAO) were the worst performer on Monday, with a 9.26 percent fall. The BIST 100's only share to undergo an increase was of Soda Sanayii (SODA), part of one of the world's major glass manufacturers Turkey's Sisecam, with a 1.62 percent hike.

The BIST 100 stocks with the highest trade volume were national flag carrier Turkish Airlines (THYAO), private lender Garanti (GARAN), iron and steel producer Kardemir Karabuk (KRDMD), followed by another lender ICBC Turkey Bank (ICBCT) and mobile operator Turkcell (TCELL).

Since the beginning of the year, the benchmark stock index has risen over 30 percent and saw its highest peak ever at 110,530.75 points on Aug. 28.

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira rate stood at 3.7170 as of 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT) on Monday, a sharp climb from 3.6270 at Friday's close.

The nine-month average dollar/lira exchange rate was 3.60, reaching a historic high of 3.94 in mid-January.

According to the Turkish Central Bank, one dollar was trading for 3.02 liras on average last year and 2.71 liras in 2015.

On Monday, the BIST Gold Exchange index was up by 1.26 percent while the price of gold per kilogram was 153,000 Turkish liras ($41,090) as of 4.30 p.m. local time (1330GMT).