Turkey's Borsa Istanbul goes up at close

By Dilara Zengin

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index closed the day up 2.04 percent at 105,932.25 points with a trade volume of 5.2 billion Turkish liras ($1.4 billion).

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index rose 2,116.20 points, up from 103,816.04 points at close on Wednesday, while the banking and holding sector indices increased 1.68 and 1.67 percent, respectively.

Among all sectors, the basic metal industry sector index was the top performer -- up 4.15 percent -- while the mining sector index suffered the biggest drop, losing 0.17 percent.

Stocks of poultry and feed producer Banvit had the best performance of the day with a 19.98 percent rise, while energy and mining company Ipek Dogal Enerji was the worst performer, with its stocks falling 3.03 percent.

The top five traded shares of the BIST 100 were the national flag carrier, Turkish Airlines (THYAO), oil refinery Tupras (TUPRS), private lender Garanti (GARAN), iron and steel producer Kardemir Karabuk (KRDMD), and another iron and steel producer Eregli Demir Celik (EREGL).

The US dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate fell to 3.6590 by 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT) on Thursday, down from 3.6670 at Wednesday's close.

Borsa Istanbul's Gold Exchange index declined by 0.08 percent, while the price of gold per kilogram reached 152,000 Turkish liras ($41,524) as of 4.30 p.m. local time (1330GMT) compared with 151,500 Turkish liras ($41,391) at the close on Wednesday.