Borsa Istanbul opens higher

ANKARA (AA) – The Borsa Istanbul BIST 100 index rose 0.44 percent to open at 83,429.51 points on Monday.

The benchmark index of Turkey's sole stock exchange climbed 362.36 points in the first transactions of the day.

The banking and holding sector indices were up 0.53 and 0.40 percent, respectively.

The investment trusts sector was the best performer among sub-indices, rising by 0.80 percent, while the trade sector was the only sub-index that experienced a loss of 0.04 percent.

The Turkish markets will focus on Turkish Central Bank’s monetary policy committee decision about raising, holding or lowering interest rates, which is due on Tuesday and Fitch’s rating review on Friday.

It is expected that the bank will increase its upper limit of interest rates corridor at least 25 basis points, according to a panel of economists surveyed by Anadolu Agency on Thursday.

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate dropped to 3.7660 at 9.30 a.m. local time (0630GMT) on Monday, compared with 3.8200 at Friday's close.

Gold held at $1,216.09 an ounce.

U.S. crude futures decreased by 0.32 percent to $53.05 a barrel, while benchmark Brent crude futures declined by 0.23 percent to $55.36.