By Gokhan Ergocun
ISTANBUL (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index started Monday at 98,661.63 points, up 0.49%, or 481.81 points.
On Friday, Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index rose 2.01% to close the day at 98,179.82 points with a daily trading volume of 12.8 billion Turkish liras ($2 billion).
The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate fell to 6.9390 as of 9.30 a.m. local time (0630GMT) on Monday, compared to 6.9410 at last week's close.
The euro/Turkish lira exchange rate also fell to 7.5280, versus 7.5460, and one British pound traded for 8.6650 Turkish liras, versus 8.6910 at the previous close.
One barrel of Brent crude oil sold for around $27.40 as of 10 a.m. local time (0700GMT).