By Tuba Sahin
ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index started Friday up 0.28% or 278.48 points to open at 98,449.46 points.
On Wednesday, Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index rose 0.57% to close at 98,170.98 points with a daily trading volume of 11.9 billion Turkish liras ($1.7 billion).
There were no transactions on Thursday due to a public holiday in Turkey to mark the National Sovereignty and Children's Day and the 100th anniversary of the foundation of the Turkish parliament on April 23.
The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate was 6.9870 as of 9.30 a.m. local time (0630GMT) on Friday, compared to 6.9980 at Wednesday's close.
The euro/Turkish lira exchange rate stood at 7.5200, versus 7.5940, and one British pound traded for 8.6560 Turkish liras, compared to 8.6490.
One barrel of Brent oil sold for $21.72 as of 10.00 a.m. local time (0700GMT) on Friday.