Borsa Istanbul up by 2.1% at weekly open

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index opened at 1,216.98 points on Monday, increasing rapidly by 2.1% or 25 points from the previous close.

At the last week's close, Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index was up 1% at 1,191.96 points with a daily trading volume of 21.7 billion Turkish liras ($2.5 billion).

The US dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate dropped to 8.4100 as of 9.30 a.m. local time (0630GMT), versus 8.5660 at the previous close.

The euro/Turkish lira exchange rate also decreased to 9.9980 from 10.1750, while one British pound traded for 11.1030 Turkish liras, down from 11.2770.

One barrel of Brent crude oil sold for around $40.50 as of 10 a.m. local time (0700GMT).