UPDATE - Turkish stocks down 0.18% at daily close

UPDATES WITH MORE DAILY FIGURES

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index ended Thursday down 0.18% to close at 101,900.25 points.

Starting the day at 101,342.20 points, Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index fell 182.23 points from Wednesday's close at 102,082.48 points.

On Thursday, the BIST 100 hovered between 101,093.04 points and 102,183.40 points -- 44 stocks on the index rose, 46 fell, and 10 were flat compared to the previous close.

Closing the day with a market value of some 677 billion Turkish liras ($123 billion), the benchmark index posted a daily trading volume of 6.05 billion Turkish liras ($1.08 billion).

By market capitalization, Turkish conglomerate Koc Holding ($8.48 billion), private lenders Garanti BBVA ($7.29 billion), and Akbank ($6.95 billion) were the leading companies of BIST 100.

Shares of Garanti BBVA, national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, and defense company Aselsan saw the highest trading volumes on Thursday -- accounting for around 39% of the benchmark index's total trade volume.

Shares of telecommunication systems integration provider Netas (NETAS) were the top gainers -- up 5.05% -- and stocks of Turkey's leading tractor producer Turk Traktor (TTRAK) fell the most with a 6.87% drop.

An ounce of gold sold for $1,403.50 at the daily close in Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets, versus $1,431.00 at the previous close.

The price of Brent oil was $63.59 per barrel as of 6.15 p.m. local time (1515GMT) on Thursday, with a day range of $63.41 to $64.53.

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