Turkish stocks down 2.31% at midweek opening

ANKARA

Turkey's benchmark stock index dropped 2.31%, or 2,001.17 points, on Wednesday to start the day at 84,776.51 points.

Analysts said concerns about coronavirus continue in the global markets, and the first confirmed death as well as rise in the number of cases in Turkey late Tuesday adversely affected the Turkish markets at the opening.

In Tuesday's close, Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index went down 1.26% to 86,777.69 points, with a daily trading volume of 9.1 billion Turkish liras ($1.4 million).

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate diminished to 6.4330 as of 9.30 a.m. local time (0630GMT) on Wednesday, versus 6.4730 at the previous close.

The euro/Turkish lira exchange rate stands at 7.0880, compared to 7.1110, and one British pound traded for 7.8020 Turkish liras. It was 7.8190 at Tuesday's close.

One barrel of Brent crude oil sold for around $28.35 as of 10 a.m. local time (0700GMT) on Wednesday.