Turkish stocks go down at close

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey’s benchmark index closed the day with 463.34 points decrease to stand at 100,744.45 on Wednesday.

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index fell 0.46 percent, after recording a historic high of 101,207.79 points on Tuesday, with a total trading volume of 3.7 billion Turkish liras ($1.03 billion).

The banking and holding sector indices were down 0.90 and 0.83 percent, respectively.

Among all indices, the investment trusts index was the best performer, up 1.97 percent, while the mining sector was the worst one, falling 2.77 percent.

The stocks of Ak Enerji (AKENR), which operates in the energy sector, were the top gainer on Wednesday, up 1.87 percent, while the stocks of Alcatel Lucent Teletas (ALCTL), a telecommunication company, saw a 4.89 percent decrease, for the second day in a row marking the largest decline.

The five most-traded stocks were national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, private lender Garanti, gold miner Koza, followed by iron and steel producers Kardemir and Eregli.

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate climbed to 3.6030 Turkish liras as of 5 p.m. (1400GMT) on Wednesday, up from 3.5620 at Tuesday's close.

Borsa Istanbul's Gold Exchange index also went down 0.70 percent and the price of gold per kilogram increased to 141,100 Turkish liras ($39,277) as of 4.30 p.m. local time (1330GMT).