13 April 2018•Update: 13 April 2018
By Muhammed Ali Gurtas
ANKARA
Turkey's benchmark stock index declined by 0.57 percent to close at 109,604.01 points on Friday with a 5.4 billion Turkish lira ($1.3 billion) trade volume.
Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index ended the day with a 631.40-point drop from Thursday's close of 110,235.41 points, while it opened the last business day of the week at 110,715.29 points. On a weekly basis, the benchmark index was 4.47 percent down.
During trading hours, the benchmark index hovered between 108,981.13 points and 110,792.78 points, while 27 stocks on the index were on the rise, 65 on the decline, and eight were flat compared to the previous close. The total market value of listed shares on the BIST 100 was 683.5 billion Turkish liras ($165.5 billion) at weekly close.
The banking and holding sector indices were down by 0.76 and 0.72 percent, respectively. Among all sectors, the leasing factoring sector index performed the best -- up 7.18 percent -- and the BIST construction index declined the most, falling 2.27 percent.
Stocks of steel producer Cemtas Celik Makina (CEMTS) were the top gainers, up 4.59 percent, while shares of Turkish poultry and feed producer Banvit (BANVT) recorded the largest decline on Friday, dropping 5.99 percent.
The BIST 100's most-traded listed companies were national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, lenders Garanti and Halkbank, gold miner Koza Altin, and iron and steel producer Kardemir.
The USD/TRY exchange was flat at 4.0970 as of 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT) Friday, compared with its previous close of 4.0910. Since the beginning of this year, the U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate has climbed nearly 9 percent, while the average rate was 3.65 last year.
The euro/lira exchange rate rose slightly to 5.0520 by market close -- up from 5.0390 at Thursday's close -- and one British pound traded for 5.8550 Turkish liras while the GBP/TRY rate was 5.8220 at the previous close.
The BIST Gold Exchange index fell by 0.88 percent at daily close. In the Precious Metals and Diamond Markets of Borsa Istanbul, one ounce of gold traded for $1,335.10 as of 4.30 p.m. local time (1330GMT) Friday, down from $1,347.00 at the previous close.
As of 6 p.m. local time (1500GMT), the price of Brent oil stood at $72.36 per barrel -- after hovering between $71.60 and $72.71 during the day -- up around $66 since the beginning of this year.
