Borsa Istanbul up at closing session

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index closed Wednesday up 0.81 percent at 95,493.30 points with a trading volume of around 7.3 billion Turkish liras ($1.35 billion).

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index ended the day with a 765.63-point increase from Tuesday's close of 94,727.67 points, while it opened the day at 94,648.02 points.

The USD/TRY exchange rate rose slightly to 5.3650 as of 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT) Wednesday, compared with 5.3530 at Tuesday's close.

The euro/lira exchange rate also increased to 6.1630 by market close, versus 6.1170 at the previous close, while the British pound/lira exchange rate reached 7.0630 Turkish liras, compared with 7.0060 at Tuesday's close.

In Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets, one ounce of gold traded for $1,236.00 as of 5.30 p.m. local time (1430GMT) Wednesday, stood same with the previous close.

As of 6 p.m. local time (1500GMT), the price of Brent oil dropped to $72.41 per barrel at the week's closing, compared with $72.87 at the end of Tuesday.