UPDATE - Turkish stocks down at midweek close

UPDATES WITH MORE DAILY FIGURES

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index ended the midweek trading down 0.53% to close at 95,522.11 points on Wednesday.

Starting the day at 96,163.73 points, Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index fell 509.72 points from Tuesday's close at 96,031.83 points.

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On Wednesday, the BIST 100 hovered between 95,261.54 points and 96,453.06 points -- 25 stocks on the index rose, 67 fell, and eight were flat compared to the previous close.

Closing the day with a market value of around 636 billion Turkish liras ($111.5 billion), the benchmark index posted a daily trading volume of 6.6 billion Turkish liras ($1.15 billion).

By market capitalization, Turkish conglomerate Koc Holding ($7.7 billion), lenders Garanti BBVA ($6.5 billion) and Akbank ($6.2 billion) were the leading companies of BIST 100.

Shares of national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, defense company Aselsan, and Garanti BBVA posted the highest trading volumes of the day.

Stocks of major appliances producer Vestel were the top gainers with a 5.81% hike on Wednesday, and shares of real estate investment trust Ihlas Gayrimenkul fell the most with a 13.73% drop.

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An ounce of gold was sold for $1,501.60 at the daily close in Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets, down from $1,503.15 at the previous close.

The price of Brent oil was $60.75 per barrel as of 6 p.m. local time (1500GMT) on Wednesday, with a day range of $60.06 to $61.41.