Borsa Istanbul down at close

By Can Erozden

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index went down 0.06 percent to close at 114,644.62 points on Friday, with a total trading volume of 7.1 billion Turkish liras ($1.89 billion).

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index lost 74.19 points. The banking sector index rose 0.53 percent, while the holding sector index fell 0.30 percent.

Among all sectors, the textile leather sector index was the top performer -- up 2.32 percent -- while the construction sector index did the worst, losing 1.16 percent.

The stocks of hypermarket chain Kipa performed the best, up 7.78 percent, while the stocks of leading newspaper Hurriyet suffered the most, falling 3.17 percent.

The top five most-traded stocks were national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, leading petrochemicals producer Petkim, iron and steel producer Kardemir, private lender Garanti, and automotive manufacturer Karsan Otomotiv.

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira rate dropped on Friday to 3.7670 as of 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT), down from 3.7930 at Thursday's close.

The euro/lira exchange rate fell to 4.5650 by market close, compared with Thursday's close of 4.5720.

The BIST Gold Exchange index gained 0.91 percent in value, while the price of gold per kilogram reached 161,150 Turkish liras (around $42,953) as of 5.30 p.m. local time (1430GMT).

As of 7 p.m. local time (1600GMT) Friday, the price of Brent oil was $69.12 per barrel, versus $69.70 at the previous close.