By Muhammed Ali Gurtas
ANKARA (AA) - Turkey’s benchmark index closed the day by going up 1,041.27 points to stand at 106,217 points at Monday's close, posting Borsa Istanbul's highest close ever.
During trading hours, Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index hit its highest level of all times at 106,402.15 points. The index advanced 0.99 percent with a total trading volume of 4.7 billion Turkish liras (approximately $1.33 billion).
Last Friday, the BIST 100 closed the day at 105,175.73 points and saw a 5.08 percent rise in a week, up from 100,084.37 points at the close on July 7.
The banking and holding sector indexes advanced 0.98 and 1.48 percent, respectively. The investment trusts index was the best performer with a 2.94 percent increase while the electricity index performed the worst, falling just 0.09 percent.
Stocks of Sasa Polyester Sanayi (SASA), a leading polyester producer, performed best on Monday -- up 6.39 percent -- while shares of commercial vehicle manufacturer Karsan (KARSN) suffered the biggest drop, declining 1.53 percent.
The five most-traded stocks were national flag carrier Turkish Airlines (THYAO), major cement producer Afyon Cimento (AFYON), lenders Garanti (GARAN) and Halkbank (HALKB), followed by real estate investment trust Emlak Konut (EKGYO).
The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate was flat at around 3.5340 Turkish liras as of 5 p.m. (1400GMT) on Monday, compared with 3.5360 at Friday's close.
On Monday, Borsa Istanbul's Gold Exchange index rose by 0.17 percent, while the price of gold per kilogram climbed to 141,000 Turkish liras (some $39,866) as of 4.30 p.m. (1330GMT), up from 140,700 Turkish liras (around $39,762) at Friday's close.