By Muhammed Ali Gurtas
ANKARA (AA) - Turkey’s benchmark index closed the day up 377.49 points to 88,965.14 Tuesday.
The BIST 100 index climbed 0.43 percent with a total trading volume of 3.6 billion Turkish liras (approximately $992 million).
On the second day of the week, the banking and holding indices rose 0.58 and 0.63 percent, respectively. Among all sectors, the textile leather index was the best performer -- up 2.28 percent -- while the mining sector fell the most, 1.18 percent.
The most heavily traded stocks were lenders Garanti, Halkbank, sports club Besiktas, state lender Vakifbank, and defense company ASELSAN.
Shares of Turkey’s leading defense systems producer ASELSAN (ASELS) were the best performer of the day, rising 4.27 percent, amid an increase of 273 percent in the company's net profit last year over 2015.
According to the company’s 2016 report, its order book reached $6.2 billion in the year, making 795 million Turkish liras ($220 million) in consolidated profit.
ASELSAN ranks 58th on the list of the world's top 100 defense giants in 2016, according to prestigious U.S. weekly Defense News.
Stocks of Trabzonspor (TSPOR), a prominent sports club, saw the largest decline of the day, falling 3.65 percent.
The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate stood below 3.63. One dollar was worth 3.6290 as of 5 p.m. (1400GMT) Tuesday, flat compared to 3.6240 at Monday's closing.
The dollar was traded for 3.6710 liras at Friday's closing, after seeing a historic hike -- 3.90 liras -- in mid-January.
The Borsa Istanbul Gold Exchange index lost 0.48 percent while the price of gold for per kilogram decreased to 143,258 Turkish liras (around $39,475) as of 4.30 p.m. (1330GMT), compared with 144,121 Turkish liras (around $39,735) at Monday's closing.