By Tuba Sahin
ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index started the day with a 455.28-point or 0.46 percent decrease to open at 99,180.99 points on Thursday.
The banking sector index declined 0.44 percent while the holding sector rose 0.08 percent.
Among all sectors, the mining index was the best performer with a 0.47-percent rise, while the telecommunications sector index started the day with the biggest decline, falling by 3.09 percent.
The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate rose to 3.5020 at 9.30 a.m. local time (0630GMT) Thursday, compared with 3.4930 at Wednesday’s close.
The Turkish Statistical Institute announced on Thursday that the unemployment rate in Turkey rose 1.6 percentage points to 11.7 percent in March year-on-year.