UPDATE - Turkish stocks down at midweek close

UPDATES WITH MORE DAILY FIGURES

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index ended the midweek trading down 1.53% to close at 98,056.47 points on Wednesday.

Starting the day at 100,028.69 points, Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index fell 1,527.35 points from Tuesday's close at 99,583.82 points.

On Wednesday, the BIST 100 hovered between 97,722.73 points and 100,177.56 points -- 16 stocks on the index rose, 80 fell, and four were flat compared to the previous close.

Closing the day with a market value of around 650 billion Turkish liras ($117 billion), the benchmark index posted a daily trading volume of 7 billion Turkish liras ($1.27 billion).

By market capitalization, Turkish conglomerate Koc Holding ($8.23 billion), lenders Garanti BBVA ($7.51 billion) and Akbank ($6.97 billion) were the leading companies of BIST 100.

Shares of national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, Garanti BBVA, and defense company Aselsan posted the highest trading volumes of the day -- accounting for 37.7% of the benchmark index's total trade volume.

Stocks of bedding and furniture company Yatas (YATAS) were the top gainers with a 3.55% hike on Wednesday, and shares of Aselsan (ASELS) fell the most with a 6.24% drop.

An ounce of gold sold for $1,497.00 at the daily close in Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets, up from $1,465.00 at the previous close.

The price of Brent oil was $56.90 per barrel as of 6 p.m. local time (1500GMT) on Wednesday, with a day range of $56.42 to $59.19.

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