Turkish stocks end day with losses

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index ended Monday down 0.42 percent to close at 114,442.10 points with a total trade volume of 3.9 billion Turkish liras (nearly $1 billion) -- relatively low compared to recent weeks.

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index fell 488.12 points from Friday's close of 114,930.22. During trading hours, the BIST 100 hovered between 114,442.10 and 115,390.46.

On a daily basis, 47 stocks on the index were up, 49 were down and four were flat compared with the previous close while the total market value of listed shares was 718 billion Turkish liras ($182 billion) at the close.

The banking and holding sector indices ended lower, falling 0.81 percent and 0.56 percent, respectively. Among all sectors, the BIST construction index performed the worst -- down 1.31 percent -- while the leasing factoring sector index increased the most, going up 4.36 percent.

Shares of Ayen (AYEN), an energy company, were the top gainers with an increase of 19.90 percent in value while stocks of computer and electronics company Datagate Bilgisayar (DGATE) was the worst performer, dropping 6.97 percent.

The BIST 100's most traded listed companies were national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, defense company Aselsan, gold miner Koza Altin, leading petrochemicals producer Petkim and private lender Garanti.

The USD/TRY exchange rate stood at 3.9630 as of 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT) Monday. It was 3.9580 at Friday's close.

The euro/lira exchange rate rose to 4.8830, up from its previous close of 4.8790.

The BIST Gold Exchange index advanced by 0.69 percent while one kilogram of gold traded for 170,100 liras ($42,820) as of 5:30 p.m. local time (1430GMT) Monday.

As of 7:13 p.m. local time (1613GMT), the price of Brent oil stood at $67.75 per barrel after hovering between $67.66 and $70.04 during the day.