Turkey's Borsa Istanbul down 0.14 pct at close

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA

Turkey's benchmark stock index ended Wednesday down 0.14 percent to close at 99,148.85 points.

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index saw a 143.62-point drop from Tuesday's close of 99,292.47 points, while it started the midweek business day at 99,708.98 points.

The BIST 100 hovered between 98,147.61 and 99,895.26 points during Wednesday's trading, as 34 stocks on the index rose, 57 fell, and nine were flat compared to Tuesday's close.

Among all sectors, the BIST transportation index was the top gainer of the day with a 1.66-percent hike, and the BIST basic metal index did the worst, falling 2.16 percent.

Stocks of state-run lender Halkbank (HALKB) were the best performers -- up 3.60 percent -- while shares of energy and construction company Isiklar Enerji Yapi Holding (IEYHO) ended the day with the biggest drop, down 8.33 percent.

By market close, the market value of listed stocks on the BIST 100 totaled around 648 billion Turkish liras ($105.8 billion) with a trade volume of some 6.53 billion Turkish liras ($1.06 billion).

Turkish conglomerate Koc Holding was the most valuable company with around $6.96 billion of market capitalization, followed by iron and steel producer Eregli Demir Celik ($6.26 billion) and energy giant Tupras ($5.68 billion).

Trade volume leaders were private lender Garanti, telecommunication giant Turk Telekom, national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, top defense company Aselsan, and Halkbank.

The USD/TRY exchange rate fell to 6.1070 as of 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT) Wednesday, versus 6.1970 at the previous close.

The euro/lira rate also went down at close, standing at 7.1700 compared with 7.3110 at Tuesday's close, while one British pound traded for 8.0610 Turkish liras, down from 8.1640.

In Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets, one ounce of gold traded for $1,195.00 at Wednesday's close, compared with $1,200.85 at Tuesday's close.

As of 6 p.m. local time (1500GMT), the price of Brent oil stood at around $81.03 per barrel, hovering between $80.53 and $81.56 during Wednesday. Since the beginning of this year, Brent oil price has risen from $66 a barrel.