UPDATE - Turkish stocks down 2.84% after holiday break

UPDATES WITH MORE DAILY FIGURES

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index ended Thursday down 2.84% to close at 96,578.70 points, following a three-day break for the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday.

Starting the day at 98,504.05 points, Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index fell 2,826.33 points from Friday's close at 99,405.03 points.

During Thursday's trading, the BIST 100 hovered between 96,507.76 points and 98,530.87 points -- 18 stocks on the index rose, 77 fell, and five were flat compared to the previous close.

Closing the day with a market value of around 640 billion Turkish liras ($117 billion), the benchmark index posted a daily trading volume of 6.6 billion Turkish liras ($1.18 billion).

By market capitalization, Turkish conglomerate Koc Holding ($8.06 billion), lenders Garanti BBVA ($6.99 billion) and Akbank ($6.70 billion) were the top companies of BIST 100.

Shares of Garanti BBVA, national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, and Akbank posted the highest trading volumes of the day -- accounting for nearly 32% of the benchmark index's total trade volume.

Stocks of airline company Pegasus (PGSUS) showed the best performance -- up 9.85% --, and shares of Ege Endustri (EGEEN), which manufactures components for the automotive industry, did the worst, falling 7.71%.

One ounce of gold was sold for $1,512.00 at the daily close in Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets, up from last week's close at $1,496.10.

The price of Brent oil was $58.15 per barrel as of 6.15 p.m. local time (1515GMT) on Thursday, with a day range of $57.67 to $59.42.

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