Turkey's Borsa Istanbul flat at close

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index closed Monday up 0.08 percent at 99,249.80 points with a trading volume of around 6.7 billion Turkish liras (nearly $1.5 billion).

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index ended the day with a 78.59-point increase from the last week's close of 99,171.21 points, while it opened the day at 99,264.37 points, up 0.09 percent.

The USD/TRY exchange slightly rose to 4.5870 as of 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT) Monday, compared with 4.5830 at Friday's close.

The euro/lira exchange rate increased to 5.3770 by market close, versus 5.3500 at the previous close, and one British pound was traded 6.1430 Turkish liras, compared with 6.1220 at Friday's close.

The BIST Gold Exchange index was stable at the close compared to Friday. In Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets, one ounce of gold traded for $1,292.00 as of 4.30 p.m. local time (1330GMT) Monday.

The price of Brent oil dropped to $75.75 per barrel as of 18.00 a.m. local time (1500GMT) Monday, from $76.79 at the last week's close.