ISTANBUL

Turkey's benchmark stock index closed the day at 111,412.70 points on Monday, down 2% from the previous close.

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index started the day at 112,532.38 points. As of the daily close, it lost 2,271.31 points from Friday's close of 113,684.01 points.

During Monday's trading, the index's deepest level was 111,211.98 points and the highest was 112,973.08 points.

The total market value of the BIST 100 was around 764.8 billion Turkish liras ($128.3 billion) by market close, with a daily trading volume of 10.9 billion Turkish liras ($1.8 billion).

On the first transaction day of the week, nine stocks on the index rose, 88 were down, and three were flat compared to Friday.

The highest trading volumes were posted by national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, defense giant Aselsan and energy company Ipek.

Real estate investment trusts firm Alarko Gmyo was the best performer, with its shares up 13.55%, while cement producer Baticim dropped the most, down 9.05%.

The price of one ounce of gold was around $1,577.90 by market close, up significantly from $1,547.30 at the previous close, according to data from Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets.

The price of Brent crude oil, which topped $70 during the day, was around $69.20 per barrel as of 6 p.m. (1500GMT) on Monday. Last month it was around $65-66.

After Friday's U.S. airstrike which killed top Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani and other Iranian and Iraqi officials in Baghdad, gold and oil prices rose sharply.