Borsa Istanbul up at opening session

ANKARA (AA) – Borsa Istanbul -- BIST 100 -- started Tuesday marginally higher in line with the positive mood seen in global markets.

Supported by the waning possibility of a Fed rate hike, the BIST 100 index advanced 0.26 percent to 77,991.45 in the opening session, keeping pace with global stock exchanges which saw mild gains in the day.

On Monday, the BIST 100 index closed the day at 77,791.60 points, up 1.18 percent or 907.29 points, resuming the move started at the end of last week on the back of weaker-than-expected unemployment data from the U.S. on Friday and promising inflation figures in Turkey.

Today markets are expected to closely follow European Union growth numbers and U.S. service sector PMI to decide the course of trade.

Analysts believe rising anticipation of additional monetary easing from the ECB ahead of its meeting on Thursday may boost markets’ positive mood.

The positive mood was also felt in the foreign exchange market as the U.S. dollar versus Turkish lira rate -- which was at 2.9474 at 8.00 a.m. local time (0500 GMT) -- was at 2.9415 at 10.00 p.m., down 0.2 percent.