Turkish stocks down over 2 pct at close

By Jeyhun Aliyev

ANKARA

Turkey's benchmark stock index went down 2.31 percent to close at 94,939.63 points with a trading volume of around 15.5 billion Turkish liras ($2.4 billion) on Friday.

On the last transaction day of the week, Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index ended the day with a 2,245.50-point loss from Thursday's close of 97,185.13 points, while it started the day at 95,603.35 points.

The benchmark index hovered between 88,598.12 points and 97,810.06 points, while 14 stocks on the index were on the rise and 86 fell compared to the previous close.

The total market value of listed shares on the BIST 100 was 623.7 billion liras ($115.5 billion) at the close, while the banking and holding sector indices dropped 6.48 percent and 0.20 percent, respectively.

Among all sectors, the chemical petrol plastic sector index saw the biggest gain, up 4.05 percent, as the sports sector index saw the biggest drop, losing 7.60 percent.

Stocks of real estate investment trust Ozderici (OZGYO) climbed the most, up 12.90 percent, on the other hand, shares of major textile manufacturer Mavi Giyim (MAVI) suffered the worst, falling 12.50 percent.

The BIST 100's most-traded listed companies were national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, petrochemical company Petkim, private lender Garanti, defense company Aselsan, and oil refinery Tupras.

One U.S. dollar traded for 6.5190 Turkish liras as of 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT), up from 5.4660 at Thursday's close.

The euro/lira exchange rate was 7.4530 by market close, versus 6.3420 at the previous close, and one British pound traded for 8.3280 Turkish liras, while the GBP/TRY rate was 7.0550 at Thursday's close.

In Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets, one ounce of gold traded for $1,210 as of 4.30 p.m. local time (1330GMT) Friday, down from $1,214 at the previous close.

As of 6 p.m. local time (1500GMT), the price of Brent oil stood at $73.05 per barrel -- hovering between $71.41 and $73.14 during the day -- climbing from around $66 at the beginning of 2018.