UPDATE - Turkey's Borsa Istanbul down at closing session

UPDATE WITH MORE DAILY FIGURES

By Gokhan Ergocun

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index closed Thursday at 97,453.96 points, down 1.55 percent.

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index dropped 1,537.05 points from Wednesday's close of 98,987.52 points, while it started the day at 98,987.52 points.

The benchmark index hovered between 97,191.47 points and 99,173.03 points, while 14 stocks were on the rise, 80 on the decline, and six flat compared to the previous close.

The total market value of listed shares on the BIST 100 was 638.3 billion liras ($112.3 billion) at close, while the banking and holding sectors indices lost 2.65 percent and 0.50 percent, respectively.

Among all sectors, the electricity sector index was the best performer, up 0.31 percent, while only the telecommunication sector index saw a decline, down 3.36 percent.

The stocks of fertilizer provider Gubretas climbed the most, up 5.30 percent, while stocks of private lender ICBC Turkey Bank did the worst, falling 5.96 percent.

The BIST 100's most-traded listed companies were national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, private lender Garanti, petrochemical company Petkim, state lender Halkbank, and defense company Aselsan.

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate fell to 5.5820 as of 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT) Thursday, compared with the previous close of 5.6950.

One euro traded for 6.4210 Turkish liras at close, down from 6.5760 at Wednesday's close.

By market close, the GBP/TRY exchange rate was 7.3200, versus 7.4850 at the previous close.

In Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets, one ounce of gold traded for $1,224.00 at Thursday's close, down from Wednesday's close of $1,226.50.

As of 6 p.m. local time (1500GMT), the price of Brent oil stood at $79.59 per barrel, compared with $79.64 at Wednesday's close.