Borsa Istanbul starts week looking up

By Aysu Bicer

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index opened the week at 1,411.38 points, up 0.13% or 1.81 points from the previous close.

At last week's close, Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index was down 0.15% to 1,409.56 points, with a daily trading volume of more than 18 billion Turkish liras ($1.95 billion).

The US dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate rose to 9.2900 as of 9:30 a.m. local time (0630GMT), versus 9.1950 at Friday's close.

The euro/Turkish lira exchange rate also increased to 10.7500, from 10.6710, while one British pound traded for 12.7400 Turkish liras, up from 12.6960.

One barrel of Brent crude oil was sold for around $85.73 as of 10 a.m. local time (0700GMT).

According to analysts, major global stock markets started the new week negatively, as China’s growth data for the third quarter fell short of expectations and rising commodity prices and inflationary concerns remain in focus.

The housing price index in Turkey and the US’ industrial production and capacity utilization data, along with statements of US Federal Reserve officials, will be in the spotlight today.