Turkey's Borsa Istanbul down 0.26 pct at close

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA

Turkey's benchmark stock index closed Tuesday at 99,292.47 points, down 0.26 percent from previous close.

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index fell 254.97 points from Monday's close of 99,547.44 points, while it started the day at 100,096.80 points.

At daily close, the market value of listed shares on the BIST 100 totaled 649.5 billion Turkish liras ($104.3 billion) with a trade volume of some 10 billion Turkish liras ($1.64 billion).

During Tuesday's trading, the BIST 100 hovered between 98,636.32 and 100,180.97 points, as 31 stocks on the index rose, 57 fell, and 12 were flat compared to the previous close.

Among all sectors, the BIST food beverage index was the best performer of the day, up one percent, while the BIST textile leather index fell the most, down 1.68 percent.

Stocks of Odas Elektrik (ODAS), an energy company, were the top gainers with a 3.33-percent hike, and shares of casting producer Cemas Dokum (CEMAS) showed the largest decline in the day with a 5.87-percent down.

Tuesday's most traded listed companies were private lender Garanti, leading defense company Aselsan, national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, telecommunication giant Turk Telekom, state-run lender Halkbank.

With regards to market value, the top three companies were Turkish conglomerate Koc Holding with around $7.06 billion, followed by iron and steel producer Eregli Demir Celik ($6.30 billion) and energy giant Tupras ($5.52 billion).

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate was 6.1970 as of 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT) Tuesday, compared with the previous close of 6.1590.

By market close, one euro traded for 7.3110 Turkish liras, up from 7.2780 at Monday's close, while the GBP/TRY exchange rate was 8.1640, versus 8.1170 at the previous close.

In Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets, one ounce of gold traded for $1,200.85 at Tuesday's close, compared with $1,200.00 at Monday's close.

As of 6 p.m. local time (1500GMT), the price of Brent oil stood at around $81.25 per barrel, hovering between $80.47 and $81.80 during the day. Since the beginning of this year, Brent oil price has risen from $66 per barrel.