UPDATE - Turkish stocks end day with losses

UPDATES WITH MORE DAILY FIGURES FOR STOCKS AND SECTORS

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index closed Wednesday down 1.39 percent at 101,891.68 points with a total trading volume of around 7.2 billion Turkish liras ($1.47 billion).

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index ended the day with a 1,436.06-point decline from the previous close of 103,327.74 points, while it opened the midweek business day at 102,806.37 points.

The benchmark index saw the lowest level at 101,419.90 points and the highest at 103,490.30 points, while 16 stocks on the index were on the rise, 83 decreasing and one flat compared with the previous close.

The total market value of listed shares on the BIST 100 was 633.6 billion Turkish liras ($138.4 billion) at the close, while the BIST banking and holding indices closed the day down 0.97 and 1.14 percent, respectively.

Among all sectors, the leasing factoring sector index increased the most with a 5.15 percent rise and the BIST basic metal index suffered the worst drop, going down 3.12 percent.

Stocks of furniture manufacturer Dogtas Kelebek Mobilya (DGKLB) lost the most on Wednesday -- down 10 percent -- while shares of events organizer Flap Kongre Toplanti Hizmetleri (FLAP) gained the most, rising 2.93 percent.

The BIST 100's most-traded listed companies were lenders Garanti Bankasi and Halkbank, national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, iron and steel producer Kardemir, the country's largest petrochemicals producer Petkim.

On Wednesday, the Turkish lira continued to lose value against major foreign currencies. The USD/TRY exchange climbed to 4.8390 as of 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT) Wednesday, rising from 4.6350 at Tuesday's close.

During the day, the dollar/lira rate hit its historic high at 4.93, while it was 3.78 at the beginning of 2018. The average USD/TRY rate was 3.65 last year.

The euro/lira exchange rate also rose steeply to 5.6650 by market close, compared with 5.46 at the previous close, and one British pound traded for 6.4850 Turkish liras, up from 6.2470 at Tuesday's close.

The BIST Gold Exchange index fell 0.29 percent at the close. In Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets, one ounce of gold traded for $1,292.00 as of 4.30 p.m. local time (1330GMT) Wednesday, versus $1,295.70 at previous close.

As of 6 p.m. local time (1500GMT), the price of Brent oil stood at $78.72 per barrel -- hovering between $78.22 and $79.58 during the day -- while it was around $66 at the beginning of this year.