Turkish stocks end Monday down 0.51 pct

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index ended Monday down 0.51 percent to close at 99,325.92 points.

After starting the day at 100,027.45 points, Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index fell 509.40 points from the previous close.

During Monday's trading, the BIST 100's daily low was 98,367.09 points while it peaked at 100,381.74 points -- 29 stocks on the index rose, 67 fell, and four were flat compared to the previous close.

The index posted a daily trading volume of some 8.87 billion Turkish liras ($1.57 billion), closing the day with a market value of around 652 billion Turkish liras ($118 billion).

By market capitalization, the leading companies of the BIST 100 were Turkish conglomerate Koc Holding, energy giant Tupras, and private lender Garanti Bankasi.

The highest trading volumes were seen in stocks of Garanti, Turkey's national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, and another lender Akbank.

Shares of electronic appliances manufacturer Vestel (VESTL) were the top gainers, up 5.92 percent, and stocks of GSD Holding (GSDHO), a group of companies heavily involved in finance and shipping, fell the most with a 5.94 percent down.

One ounce of gold was sold for $1,318.95 at the daily close in Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets, versus $1,313.15 at the close on Monday.

With a day range of $66.04 to $66.85, the price of Brent oil was around $66.78 per barrel as of 6.30 p.m. local time (1530GMT) on Monday.

At the beginning of 2019, the price of Brent oil was around $53 per barrel.