ANKARA (AA) – Turkish shares closed higher on Wednesday amid gains in the banking and information technology sectors as the market looked for recovery after an unexpected credit-rating cut last week.
Borsa Istanbul's BIST-100, the country’s benchmark index, closed up 0.67 percent (517.11 points) at 77,677.18 as shares rebounded sharply after a fall on Monday in the wake of Moody’s surprise rate cut.
On the third trading day of the week, the banking sector index rose about 1.94 percent; the information technology and industry sector indices were also up 2.23 percent and 0.16 percent respectively.
However, the mining sector ended 0.88 percent lower for the day, with a total trading volume of 3.5 billion Turkish liras ($1.18 billion).
Borsa Istanbul's most actively traded stocks belonged to national flag-carrier Turkish Airlines, state lender Halkbank plus private lenders Akbank, Garanti Bank and Isbank.
The largest winner was Banvit Yem San. A.S. (BANVT), a marketer of poultry and meat products, which saw an increase of 17.40 percent.
Alarko Gmyo (ALGYO) added 11.07 percent or 3.14 points to end at 31.50 and Eczacibasi Ilac (ECILC) was up 5.88 percent or 0.22 points to 3.96 in late trading.
Biggest losers included Garanti Factoring (GARFA) which lost 8.97 percent or 0.20 points to trade at 8.97 in late trading.
Increasing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 232 to 116 and 151 ended unchanged on the stock exchange.
- Gold price down -
The Borsa Istanbul Gold Exchange index lost 0.49 percent in value on Wednesday compared to Tuesday's closing, with gold trading at 127,150 Turkish liras per kilogram.
The Turkish lira fell against the U.S. dollar, standing at 2.9871 compared with Tuesday's close of 2.9785.
On Wednesday, the country's central bank governor said its simplification process continued to increase the effectiveness of monetary policy.
"The July 15 coup attempt and decline in tourism revenues has hit Turkey's economic growth but the recovery will be seen in economic activity from the last quarter of the year," Murat Cetinkaya said at the ordinary monthly assembly meeting of Istanbul Chamber of Industry.