18 June 2018•Update: 18 June 2018
By Gokhan Ergocun
ANKARA
Turkey's benchmark stock index dropped by 1.58 percent to 93,043.28 points with a trading volume of around 4.8 billion Turkish liras ($1.01 billion) in the closing session on Monday.
Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index ended the day with a 1,497.56-point decrease from the Thursday's close of 94,540.84 points, while it opened the day at 94,235.90 points, down 0.32 percent.
Last week, the benchmark stock index closed mid-Thursday due to the Muslim Eid al-Fitr holiday. On Friday, there was no transaction.
The benchmark index hovered between 92,720.87 points and 94,235.90 points, while 33 stocks on the index were on the rise, 62 on the decline, and five flat compared to the previous close.
The total market value of listed shares on the BIST 100 was 593.2 billion liras ($127.6 billion) at the close, while the banking and holding sector indices dropped 1.24 percent and 1.46 percent, respectively.
Among all sectors, the construction sector index saw an increase, up 1.52 percent, and the mining sector index saw the biggest drop, losing 8.66 percent.
Stocks of energy company Odas climbed the most, up 10.57 percent, while shares of another energy company Ipek were the worst, falling 12.05 percent.
The BIST 100's most-traded listed companies were defense company Aselsan, national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, private lender Garanti, iron/steel producer Kardemir, and polyester producer Sasa.
The USD/TRY exchange rate rose to 4.7190 as of 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT) Monday, compared with 4.6270 at Thursday's close. It had hit an all-time high with 4.93 last month.
The euro/lira exchange rate also increased slightly to 5.4800 by market close, versus 5.4730 at the previous close, and one British pound traded for 6.2630 liras, compared with 6.2320 at Thursday's close.
The BIST Gold Exchange index lost in value by 1.31 percent at the close. In Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets, one ounce of gold traded for $1,278.00 as of 4.30 p.m. local time (1330GMT) Monday, compared with $1,295.00 at the previous close.
The price of Brent oil rose to $74.75 per barrel as of 6 p.m. (1500GMT) Monday, from $73.49 on Friday's close.
Turkey's central government budget balance saw a surplus of 2.7 billion liras ($612.5 million) in May, the Finance Ministry announced Monday. Budget revenue was 70 billion liras ($15.8 billion) and 67.3 billion liras ($15.2 billion) in the month.
The country's unemployment rate fell by 1.6 percent or 432,000 to 10.1 percent -- 3.2 million people -- in March, on a yearly basis, Turkish Statistical Institute said on Monday.
