Turkey's Borsa Istanbul goes up at close

By Jeyhun Aliyev

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index on Thursday closed the fourth trading day up 0.28 percent at 96,226.99 points with a total trading volume of around 7.3 billion Turkish liras ($1.5 billion).

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index ended the day with a 272.19-point hike from the previous close of 94,432.93 points, while it started the day at 95,807.30 points.

The benchmark index hovered between 95,486.95 points and 96,993.23 points, while 64 stocks on the index were on the rise, 29 on the decline, and seven flat compared to the previous close.

The total market value of listed shares on the BIST 100 was 614.3 billion Turkish liras ($132.5 billion) at the close, while the banking sector indices gained 0.08 percent and holding sector indices fell 0.10 percent.

Among all sectors, the mining sector index saw the best performance, up 3.82 percent, while the transportation sector index fell the most, down 0.80 percent.

Stocks of energy and construction company Isiklar Enerji Yapi Holding (IEYHO) climbed the most, up 11.54 percent, while shares of real estate investment trust Ihlas Gayrimenkul (IHLGM) did the worst, falling 3.38 percent.

The BIST 100's most-traded listed companies were national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, defense company Aselsan, private lender Garanti, iron and steel producer Kardemir and prominent polyester producer Sasa.

On Thursday, the USD/TRY exchange rate fell to 4.5840 as of 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT), versus 4.6010 at Wednesday's close.

The euro/lira exchange rate dropped to 5.3180 by market close, down from 5.3400 at Wednesday's close, and one British pound traded for 6.0230 Turkish liras, while the GBP/TRY rate was 6.0690 at the previous close.

The BIST Gold Exchange index fell 0.50 percent at the close. In Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets, one ounce of gold traded for $1,250.10 as of 4.30 p.m. local time (1330GMT) Thursday, versus $1,256.40 at previous close.

As of 6 p.m. local time (1500GMT), the price of Brent oil stood at $78.02 per barrel -- hovering between $72.02 and $78. during the day -- while it was around $66 at the beginning of this year.