Borsa Istanbul opens higher

ANKARA (AA) - Borsa Istanbul’s BIST 100 index opened higher Thursday amid hopes for an extension of monetary easing at the European Central Bank’s meeting later.

The index rose 0.29 percent, or 223.95 points, to open at 77,867.13 points in line with marginal gains seen on global stock exchanges.

At Wednesday’s close, the index was down 0.45 percent, or 351.61 points, to close at 77,643.18 points on the back of profit-taking action, especially in banking shares.

Analysts expect a European bank announcement and industrial production data due on Thursday afternoon to set the course of markets.

The U.S. dollar was relatively flat against the Turkish lira, up 0.11 percent at 9.30 a.m. local time (0630GMT) to 2.9344.