By Gokhan Ergocun
ISTANBUL (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index closed Friday up 0.34 percent at 93,616.45 points with a trading volume of around 5.4 billion Turkish liras (around $1 billion).
Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index ended the day with a 319.61-point increase from Thursday's close of 93,296.84 points, while it opened the day at 93,785.90 points.
The USD/TRY exchange rate dropped by 1.4 percent to 5.3410 as of 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT) Friday, compared with 5.4170 at Thursday's close.
The euro/lira exchange rate also decreased to 6.0930 by market close, versus 6.1290 at the previous close, while the British pound/lira exchange rate reached 6.8840 Turkish liras, compared with 6.9400 at Thursday's close.
In Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets, one ounce of gold traded for $1,215.85 as of 5.30 p.m. local time (1430GMT) Friday, up from 1,212.00 at the previous close.
As of 6 p.m. local time (1500GMT), the price of Brent oil rose by 1.7 percent to $68.06 per barrel compared with $66.92 at the end of Thursday.