ANKARA 

Turkey's benchmark stock index started Thursday at 99,858.48 points, down 0.30%, or 300.65 points.

On Wednesday, Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index diminished 0.55% to close the day at 100,159.13 points with a daily trading of around 13.3 billion Turkish liras ($1.9 billion).

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate decreased to 6.9680 as of 9.30 a.m. local time (0630GMT) on Thursday, compared to 6.9740 at Wednesday's close.

The euro/Turkish lira exchange rate also went down to 7.5320, versus 7.5760, and one British pound traded for 8.5170 Turkish liras, versus 8.5640 at the previous close.

One barrel of Brent crude oil sold for around $29.69 as of 10 a.m. local time (0700GMT).