Borsa Istanbul goes up at close

By Gokhan Ergocun

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index closed the day with a 0.28 percent or 293.44-point increase to reach 106,255.69 points with a trading volume of 5.1 billion Turkish liras ($1.4 billion) on Friday.

On the last transaction day of the week, the banking sector index rose 0.49 percent and the holding sector index fell 0.04 percent.

Among all sectors, the investment trusts index advanced the most with a 3.72 percent hike, while the wood paper printing sector index fell 2.91 percent.

Shares of poultry and feed producer Banvit (BANVT) showed the highest increase, up 7.77 percent, and stocks of lender ICBC Turkey Bank (ICBCT) performed the worst, falling 7.85 percent.

The five most-traded stocks of the BIST 100 were national flag carrier Turkish Airlines (THYAO), private lender Garanti (GARAN), defense company Aselsan (ASELS), iron and steel producer Kardemir Karabuk (KRDMD) and another private lender AKBANK (AKBNK).

The BIST 100 was up 2,116.20 points or 2.04 percent to 105,932.25 points with a trading volume of 5.2 billion Turkish liras (around $1.43 billion) at the close on Thursday.

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate dropped to 3.6310 by 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT) Friday, down from 3.6590 at Thursday's close.

The Borsa Istanbul's Gold Exchange index was up 0.91 percent, while the price of gold per kilogram fell to 152,100 Turkish liras ($42,008) as of 4.30 p.m. local time (1330GMT) on the day.