Borsa Istanbul up at close

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index closed the day up 0.25 percent to reach 110,454.67 points on Wednesday.

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index increased 277.56 points with a total trading volume of 5.5 billion Turkish liras (nearly $1.44 billion).

The banking sector index dropped by 0.06 percent, while the holding sector index rose by 0.27 percent.

Among all sectors, the chemical petrol plastic sector index was the top performer -- up 2.88 percent -- while the telecommunication sector index suffered the biggest drop with 2.03 percent.

Stocks of Turkey's top oil refinery Tupras enjoyed a 5.34 percent rise, the highest of the day, while shares of conglomerate Tekfen Holding -- involved in oil, power generation, construction and infrastructure -- saw a 3.48 percent decrease, marking the biggest drop of the day.

The top five most-traded stocks were national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, private lender Sekerbank, state lender Halkbank, iron and steel producer Karabuk Kardemir, and Tupras.

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate slightly increased to 3.8290 as of 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT) Wednesday, up from 3.8270 at Tuesday's close.

The euro/lira exchange rate also rose to 4.5370 by market close, up from Tuesday's close at 4.5260.

The BIST Gold Exchange index gained 0.14 percent in value, while the price of gold per kilogram remained unchanged at 156,000 Turkish liras (around $40,738) as of 4.30 p.m. local time (1330GMT), compared with Tuesday's closing price.

As of 6.12 p.m. local time (1512GMT) Wednesday, the price of Brent oil was $63.94 per barrel, compared with $63.80 of previous close.