Borsa Istanbul closes year at record high

By Gokhan Ergocun

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's stock exchange reached its highest-ever close on the last working day of 2017, recording 115,333.01 points.

The BIST 100 rose 0.74 percent, or 852.56 points, while the banking and holding sectors rose 0.60 and 1.10 percent respectively.

The market rose 48.03 percent, or 37,425.81 points, compared to the beginning of the year, when it opened on 77,907.20 points.

The construction sector was the best performer, rising 2.20 percent, while the food and beverage sector saw the biggest drop, falling 0.62 percent.

Shares in Hurriyet Gazetecilik were the top gainer on Friday, rising 4.69 percent. Turcas Petrol shares suffered the biggest drop of the day, falling 2.06 percent.

Turkish Airlines, ASELSAN, Koza Altin, Halkbank and Sekerbank saw the greatest trading volumes.

On Thursday, the BIST 100 closed at 114,480.45 after 5.4 billion Turkish liras ($1.43 billion) worth of trade.

The U.S. dollar-lira rate climbed to 3.7940 at 9.30 a.m. local time (0630GMT), compared with Thursday's closing rate of 3.7730. It dropped to its lowest level in two months after the resumption of visa services between Turkey and the U.S.

The euro-lira rate rose to 4.5490 from previous day's close of 4.5170.

A U.S. dollar traded for 3.5390 liras while one euro was 3.7220 liras at the beginning of the year.

The Borsa Istanbul Gold Exchange index rose 0.28 percent in value, with gold trading at 156,900 liras ($41,344) per kilogram as of 4.30 p.m. (1330GMT) Friday. A kilogram of gold was worth 131,375 liras ($34,618) at the beginning of 2017.

The price of Brent crude oil rose to $66.49 per barrel as of 5.45 p.m. local time (1445GMT) Friday, compared with Thursday's close of $65.89. It was around $55 in January.

Turkey became the fastest-growing economy among G20 countries with 11.1 percent growth in the third quarter of 2017.

Turkish exporters' 2017 target was to reach $157.3 billion in exports. According to the Turkish Statistical Institute, the first 11 months of the year saw exports reach $143.2 billion.

Unemployment rate fell 0.7 percentage points to 10.6 percent year-on-year in September and annual inflation reached 12.9 percent in November.