UPDATE - Turkish stocks down at Thursday's close

UPDATES WITH MORE DAILY FIGURES

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index closed the day at 93,639.50 points on Thursday, down 7.26% from the previous close.

Starting the day at 98,448.16 points, Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index slipped 7,326.77 points from the midweek's close of 100,966.27 points.

During the day, it hovered between 92,853.67 points and 99,026.93 points.

The total market value of the BIST 100 was around 644.9 billion Turkish liras ($104.9 billion) by market close, with a daily trading volume of 8.7 billion Turkish liras ($1.4 billion).

On the fourth transaction day of the week, three stocks on the index rose and 97 were down compared to Wednesday.

The highest trading volumes were posted by defense giant Aselsan, national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, and pharmaceutical manufacturer Deva Holding.

Stocks of EIS Eczacibasi Ilac (ECILC), a pharmaceutical company operates under a major conglomerate Eczacibasi Group, was the best performer, with its shares up 13.03%, while telecommunication systems integration provider Netas (NETAS) dropped the most, losing 19.98%.

The price of one ounce of gold was $1,635.50 by market close, down from $1,665.00 at the previous close, according to data from Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets.

The price of Brent crude oil was around $33.50 per barrel as of 6.15 p.m. (1515GMT) on Thursday.