Turkey's Borsa Istanbul 1.6 pct up at close

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey’s benchmark stock exchange closed the day at 103,984.39 points with an increase of 1,642.56 points, or 1.6 percent, on Thursday.

The trade volume was 7.1 billion Turkish liras ($1.8 billion) while the banking and holding sector indices increased by 2.05 and 0.33 percent, respectively.

Among all sector indices, the telecommunication sector index was the best performer with a 4.17 percent hike while the construction sector was the worst performer, as its index went down by 1.10 percent.

Stocks of Turkish defense giant Aselsan were the top gainer of the day -- 11 percent rise -- while shares of conglomerate Metro Holding went down 7.55 percent, the biggest drop on Thursday.

The BIST 100's most traded stocks were national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, private lender Garanti, defense company Aselsan, prominent polyester producer Sasa, and leading mobile operator Turkcell.

The USD/TRY rate fell to 3.9380 as of 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT), down from 3.9650 at Wednesday's close.

The euro/lira exchange rate also dropped to 4.6770, compared to yesterday's close at 4.6940.

The BIST Gold Exchange index slipped 1.01 percent while a kilogram of gold traded at 162,575 Turkish liras ($41,240) as of 4.30 p.m. local time (1330GMT) Thursday, down from Wednesday's closing price of 164,780 Turkish liras ($41.560).

The price of Brent crude oil was down to $62.37 per barrel as of 6.30 p.m. local time (1530GMT) Thursday, compared to $63.16 at Wednesday's close.

Meanwhile, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) announced Thursday that Turkish exports reached $13.9 billion in October, indicating a rise of 9 percent year-on-year.

Turkey's imports were also up in the same period, increasing by 25 percent to $21.3 billion, TurkStat said.