By Tuba Sahin
ANKARA (AA) - Turkey’s benchmark index closed the week with a 372.83-point hike to reach 94,655.31 points on Friday.
Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index rose 0.40 percent with a total trading volume of 4.2 billion Turkish liras (approximately $1.18 billion).
The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate dropped to stand at 3.5480 liras as of 5 p.m. (1400GMT) Friday, compared with 3.5630 liras at Thursday's close.
Borsa Istanbul's Gold Exchange index increased by 0.09 percent while the price of gold per kilogram was 145,500 Turkish liras (some $40,928) as of 4.30 p.m. (1330GMT), up from 144,700 Turkish liras (around $40,655) at Thursday's close.
On the last trading day of the week, the banking sector index advanced by 0.82 percent while the holding sector dropped by 0.43 percent.
Among all sectors, the basic metal index was the best performer with an increase of 1.27 percent while the insurance sector was the worst one, declining 1.33 percent.
Cemtas Celik Makina, a steel producer, advanced the most on Friday -- up 4.61 percent -- while stocks of Turkish conglomerate Tekfen Holding (TKFEN) -- involved in oil, power generation, construction and infrastructure -- saw the largest decline, falling 3.17 percent.
The top traded stocks were private lender Garanti, national flag-carrier Turkish Airlines, state lender Halkbank, followed by steel and iron producer Eregli plus major defense system producer Aselsan.
- Inflation forecast raised
Turkey's Central Bank raised its inflation forecast for 2017 to 8.5 percent on Friday.
"Inflation is likely to be 8.5 percent at the end of 2017, and fall to 6.4 percent in 2018 before stabilizing at around 5 percent in the medium term," Governor Murat Cetinkaya said at a news conference held to announce the second inflation report of the bank.
Turkey's foreign trade deficit narrowed by 10.3 percent year-on-year in March, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) said Friday.
"In March 2017 foreign trade deficit was $4.492 billion with a 10.3 percent decrease compared with March 2016," the institute said.
The month saw exports hiked by 13.6 percent to approximately $14.5 billion, TurkStat reported.
TurkStat also revealed on Friday that Turkey's total tourism income dropped by 17.1 percent year-on-year, at $3.37 billion in the first quarter of 2017.
It showed that 71.8 percent of tourism revenue (excluding GSM roaming and marina service expenditures) came from foreign visitors and the rest from citizens residing abroad.