By Gokhan Ergocun

ANKARA

Turkey's benchmark stock index went down 0.12 percent to close at 118,266.86 points on Tuesday, with a total trading volume of 6.7 billion Turkish liras ($1.73 billion).

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index lost 144.58 points, while the banking sector index decreased 1.24 percent and holding sector index rose slightly 0.06 percent.

Among all sectors, the transportation sector index was the best performer, rising 2.85 percent, while the mining sector index performed the worst, down by 3.02 percent.

Stocks of the prominent polyester producer Sasa Polyester were the top gainers of the day, up 12.85 percent, while stocks of energy company Anel Elektrik suffered the most, falling 6.93 percent.

The day's most traded stocks were national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, iron and steel producer Kardemir, polyester producer Sasa Polyester, private lender Garanti and automotive manufacturer Karsan Otomotiv.

On Monday, the BIST 100 rose 1.28 percent or 1,496.92 points to close at 118,411.44 points. The trade volume was 6.5 billion Turkish liras (approximately $1.75 billion).

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange climbed to 3.8620 as of 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT) on Tuesday, compared to Monday's close at 3.8340.

The euro/lira exchange rate also rose to 4.7780 on Tuesday, from the previous close of 4.7210.

The BIST Gold Exchange index gained 0.76 percent in value, while the price of gold per kilogram reached to 164,600 Turkish liras (around $42,583) as of 5.30 p.m. local time (1430GMT), up from 162,500 liras ($42,040) at Monday's close.

As of 6.00 p.m. local time (1500GMT) Tuesday, the price of Brent oil dropped slightly to $64.26 per barrel, versus $64.61 at the previous close.

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) upgraded its estimates for Turkey's growth to 6.9 percent for 2017 instead of 6.1 percent as previously expected.

According to the OECD, the country’s growth is also expected to rise by 5.3 percent for 2018 and 5.1 percent for 2019, from 4.9 percent and 4.7 percent, respectively.