UPDATE - Turkish stocks end Thursday down 0.96%

UPDATES WITH MORE DAILY FIGURES

By Cansu Dikme

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index ended Thursday down 0.96% to close at 99,193.03 points.

Starting the day at 99,858.48 points, Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index fell 966.10 points from 100,159.13 points at the midweek close.

During Thursday's trading, the BIST 100 hovered between 98,494.25 points and 100,381.19 points -- 21 stocks on the index rose, 78 fell, and one was flat compared to the previous close.

Closing the day with a market value of nearly 703.3 billion Turkish liras ($100.8 billion), the benchmark index posted a daily trading volume of 14.5 billion Turkish liras ($2.1 billion).

Shares of defense company Aselsan, pharmaceutical firm Eczacibasi Ilac and private lender Garanti BBVA saw the highest trading volumes, accounting for some 26.5% of the benchmark index's total trade volume.

Stocks of real estate investment company Reysas GMYO were the top gainer with a 9.85% rise, while shares of Alkim Kimya, which produces chemical materials, dropped the most, falling 9.99%.

The price of one ounce of gold was $1,725.00 by market close, up from $1,658.00 at the previous close, according to data from Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets.

The price of Brent oil was $30.33 per barrel as of 6 p.m. local time (1500GMT) on Thursday, with a day range of $28.87 to $30.53

At the beginning of 2020, a barrel of Brent oil sold for around $58.