24 July 2018•Update: 31 July 2018
By Muhammed Ali Gurtas
ANKARA
Turkey's benchmark stock index recorded a sharp fall of 3.33 percent to close at 92,133.82 points on Tuesday with a trade volume of around 10.3 billion Turkish liras ($2.1 billion).
Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index ended the day with a 3,171.33-point decline from Monday's close of 95,305.15 points, while it started the second business day of the week at 95,524.43 points.
The fall came after the Central Bank's decision to keep interest rates constant at 17.75 percent on Tuesday -- contrary to expectations.
The benchmark index hovered between 91,722.71 points and 95,567.90 points during trading hours, while 11 stocks on the BIST 100 rose, 88 fell, and one flat compared to the previous close.
On Tuesday, the total market value of listed shares on the BIST 100 was around 610 billion Turkish liras ($128.3 billion) at close.
Among all sectors, the BIST banking index was the worst performer with a 5.69 percent down -- 11 of 13 listed lenders' stocks lost value, and the BIST construction index was the only sector index that recorded an increase, going up 0.34 percent.
Shares of Turkey's leading airport operator TAV Airports Holding (TAVHL) were the top gainer of the day -- up 3.96 percent -- while stocks of the private lender Garanti Bankasi (GARAN) saw the biggest drop, falling 7.13 percent.
Since the beginning of this year, the benchmark index has fallen over 20 percent, as it hit its all-time high at 121,531.50 points on Jan. 29
Following the Central Bank's announcement, Turkish lira lost ground against foreign exchanges. One U.S. dollar traded for 4.8740 Turkish liras as of 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT) Tuesday, climbing from 4.7420 at Monday's close.
The euro/lira exchange rate also rose steeply to 5.7090 by market close, versus 5.5520 at the previous close, and one British pound traded for 6.4230 Turkish liras, while the GBP/TRY rate was 6.2340 at Monday's close.
In Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets, one ounce of gold traded for $1,227.50 as of 4.30 p.m. local time (1330GMT) Tuesday, down from $1,231.30 at the previous close.
As of 6 p.m. local time (1500GMT), the price of Brent oil stood at $73.77 per barrel -- hovering between $72.72 and $73.83 on Tuesday -- climbing from around $66 at the beginning of 2018.
