Turkish stocks end week with loss

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index ended Friday down 0.43 percent to close the week at 116,602.82 points with a 7.05-billion Turkish lira ($1.76 billion) trade volume.

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index declined 507.43 points from Thursday's close of 117,110.25 points. During the trading hours, the BIST 100 hovered between 115,559.53 points and 116,871.40 points.

On the last business day of the week, 38 stocks in the BIST 100 were up, 54 were down, and eight were flat compared with the previous close. The total market value of the listed shares in BIST 100 amounted to 731.8 billion Turkish liras ($187.2 billion) as of the daily close.

The BIST banking index fell by 0.99 percent while the BIST holding index rose by 0.18 percent. Among all sectors, the wood paper printing sector index was the top gainer, rising by 2.62 percent, and the BIST basic metal index decreased the most, falling by 2.13 percent.

The shares of conglomerate Dogan Holding (DOHOL) showed the best performance on Friday -- up 19.23 percent -- while stocks of food giant Ulker Biskuvi (ULKER) suffered the largest decline of the day with a 4.14-percent drop.

The BIST 100's most-traded listed companies were national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, private lender Garanti, prominent daily newspaper Hurriyet Gazetecilik and its major shareholder Dogan Holding, followed by electronic appliances manufacturer Vestel.

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate climbed to 3.9580 as of 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT) on Friday, versus the previous close of 3.9310.

The EUR/TRY rate also showed hike by market close, reaching 4.8890. One euro traded for 4.8460 liras at Thursday's close.

The BIST Gold Exchange index rose by 1.16 percent while one kilogram of gold traded for 171,050 Turkish liras ($43,169) as of market close, up from 167,900 Turkish liras ($42,720) at Thursday's close.

As of 6.30 p.m. local time (1530GMT), the price of Brent oil stood at $70.20 per barrel -- hovering between $68.83 per barrel and $70.38 per barrel on Friday.