By Tuba Sahin
ANKARA (AA) - The BIST 100 index gained 242.79 points to open at 76,386.39 points on Thursday morning during its first transactions.
The benchmark index increased by 0.32 percent on the third trading day of the week. The banking sector index rose by 0.54 percent while the holding sector index declined by 0.07 percent.
Among all the sector indices, the leasing and factoring sector index increased the most, by 0.84 percent. The wood paper printing index saw the biggest drop, 0.67 percent, in initial transactions.
The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate decreased to 3.5610 at 9.30 a.m. local time (0630 GMT) on Thursday, compared with 3.5830 at Wednesday's close.
Gold held at $1,178.37 an ounce.
The U.S. crude futures rose by 0.15 percent to stand at $53.18 a barrel, while benchmark Brent crude futures slipped by 0.28 percent to reach $56.30.