Turkish stocks end Monday 0.26% down

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index ended the day down 0.26% to close at 94,535.10 points on Monday.

After starting the week at 95,039.78 points, Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index fell 248.04 points from 94,783.14 points at Friday's close.

Peaking at 95,113.87 points, the BIST 100's daily low was 94,236.73 points during Monday's trading -- 30 stocks on the index rose, 63 fell, and seven were flat compared to the previous close.

Closing the day with a market value of nearly 625 billion Turkish liras ($105 billion), the benchmark index posted a daily trading volume of 4.84 billion Turkish liras ($815 million).

By market capitalization, Turkish conglomerate Koc Holding ($6.91 billion), private lender Garanti BBVA ($5.62 billion), and iron/steel producer Eregli Demir Celik ($5.34 billion) were the BIST 100's top companies.

Stocks of Garanti BBVA, national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, and another private lender Is Bankasi recorded the highest trading volumes on Monday -- accounting for around 35% of the benchmark index's total trade volume.

Stocks of prominent Turkish sports club Galatasaray (GSRAY) were the top gainers -- up 19.77% -- as shares of conglomerate Verusa Holding (VERUS) did the worst, falling 5.79%.

One ounce of gold sold for $1,282.50 at the daily close in Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets, versus $1,282.00 at Friday's close.

The price of Brent oil was $71.75 per barrel as of 7 p.m. local time (1600GMT) on Monday -- with a day range of $71.31 to $74.42.

At the beginning of 2019, a barrel of Brent oil sold for around $53.