By Aysu Bicer
ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index opened at 1,172.77 points on Thursday, rising 0.44% or 5.12 points from the previous close.
At the previous close, Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index rose by 1.47% to 1,167.65 points, with a daily trading volume of 24.5 billion Turkish liras (nearly $3 billion).
The US dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate rose to 8.4740 as of 9:30 a.m. local time (0630GMT), versus 8.4540 on Wednesday.
The euro/Turkish lira exchange rate also increased to 9.9560 from 9.8980, while one British pound traded for 11.0110 Turkish liras, down from 11.0150.
One barrel of Brent crude oil sold for around $40.45 as of 10 a.m. local time (0700GMT).