Turkish stock market opens week in the red

Trkiye’s reference stock index opened Monday at 4,489.58, a nosedive of 6.38% or 306.03 points as investors absorb the election results.

Borsa Istanbul’s BIST 100 index closed Friday at 4,795.61, down 1.08%.

The US dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate was 19.6500 at 09:54 local time (0654GMT), the euro/lira exchange rate stood at 21.3537, while a British pound traded for 24.5036 Turkish lira.

Brent crude oil sold for about $73.83 a barrel, while the price of an ounce of gold was $2,021.05.

Millions of Turkish citizens cast their ballots on Sunday to elect the president and a 600-member parliament in the highly anticipated elections.

With 99.38% of the votes counted in presidential elections, the final results of the elections are awaited.

Anadolu’s latest results put President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the lead with 49.42%. Leader of the opposition Republican People’s Party Kemal Kilicdaroglu is behind with 44.95%. Sinan Ogan, the third candidate, is at 5.20%.

If no presidential candidate receives more than 50% of the vote, there will be a second round on May 28.