Turkish shares, lira close lower amid military operation

ANKARA

Turkish shares closed lower on Wednesday amid a military operation by Turkish military against Daesh militants around the northern Syrian city of Jarabulus as a response to the threat posed by terror groups to Turkey.

Borsa Istanbul's BIST-100, the country’s benchmark index, closed down 1.21 percent (1,217.3 points) at 76,116.31

On the third trading day of the week, the financial sector index lost about 2.2 percent and the industry sector and service sector indexes were also down 0.87 percent and 0.78 percent respectively.

But the mining sector ended 16.28 percent higher for the day, with a total trading volume of 3.5 billion Turkish liras ($1.18 billion).

Borsa Istanbul's most actively traded stocks were Garanti Bank, Turkish Airlines, state lender Halkbank and Tekfen Holding.

The largest winners were gold miner Koza Gold (Kozal), energy company Ipek Dogal Enerji and Koza Madencilik which all saw an increase of 20 percent following local media report that that the Turkish government was working on a decree that will allow the government to seize control of companies that have suspected links to the U.S.-based head of the Fetullah Terrorist Organization.

Gold price lost

The Borsa Istanbul Gold Exchange index lost 0.77 percent in value Wednesday compared with Tuesday's closing, with gold trading at 126,680 Turkish liras per kilogram.

The Turkish lira lost against the dollar, standing at 2.9540 compared with Tuesday's close of 2.9375.

- Vice President Joe Biden says US is Ankara's greatest ally

On Wednesday, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden paid a day-long visit to the Turkish capital Ankara.

Biden toured the Turkish parliament building damaged by bombs during the coup attempt and addressed deputies in the assembly chamber.

Turkish tanks crossed the border into northern Syria on Wednesday as part of operations to clear Daesh terrorists from the city of Jarabulus.

This ground intervention followed Turkey’s shelling of northern Syria, hitting 81 targets almost 300 times from 4.00 a.m. (0100 GMT) early Wednesday.

Turkish officials are blaming Daesh for Saturday's deadly blast at a wedding ceremony in southeastern province of Gaziantep which left 54 people dead.

Wednesday's anti-Daesh operation, called Euphrates Shield, aims to support U.S.-led coalition forces, strengthen Turkey's border security by clearing terrorist groups and maintain Syria’s territorial integrity.