Borsa Istanbul up at midweek open

By Yunus Girgin

ISTANBUL (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index opened at 1,249.87 points on Wednesday, increasing 0.55% or 6.87 points from the previous close.

At the previous close, Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index was up 0.93% at 1,243.00 points with a daily trading volume of 31.9 billion Turkish liras ($3.9 billion).

The US dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate decreased to 8.1190 as of 9.35 a.m. local time (0635GMT), versus 8.1810 at the previous close.

The euro/Turkish lira exchange rate also dropped to 9.5960 from 9.6640, while one British pound traded for 11.1030 Turkish liras, up from 10.9450.

One barrel of Brent crude oil sold for around $44.20 as of 9.50 a.m. local time (0650GMT).