Turkish shares flat at close

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey’s benchmark stock index decreased by 0.13 percent to close at 109,639.12 points on Tuesday.

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index fell 142.01 points with a total trading volume of 4.8 billion Turkish liras ($1.36 billion).

The banking sector index increased by 0.23 percent while the holding sector slipped 0.36 percent.

Among all sectors, the chemical petrol plastic sector index performed the best -- up 1.39 percent -- while the trade index was the worst, declining 2.05 percent.

Stocks of Turkish conglomerate Ihlas Holding (IHLAS), enjoyed an 8.33 percent rise, the highest of the day, while shares of Tat Gida (TATGD), which operates in the food sector under Turkish business conglomerate Koc Holding, saw the biggest drop, falling 4.56 percent.

The BIST 100's most-traded stocks were the national flag carrier Turkish Airlines (THYAO), the mining company Koza Madencilik, the private lender Garanti (GARAN), the major defense systems company Aselsan and Ihlas Holding.

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate rose to 3.5290 as of 5 p.m. (1400GMT) on Tuesday, a slight increase when compared with 3.5260 at Monday's close.

Borsa Istanbul's Gold Exchange index went up by 0.23 percent, while the price of gold per kilogram stood at 143,600 Turkish liras ($40,680) as of 4.30 p.m. (1330GMT) on Tuesday, up from 142,900 Turkish liras ($40,47) at Monday's close.