Turkey's Borsa Istanbul sees record high at close

By Dilara Zengin

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index gained 1,391.54 points to hit a historic high of 108,545.31 points at the close on Friday.

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index increased by 1.30 percent with a total trading volume of 5 billion Turkish liras (approximately $1.41 billion).

The banking and holding sectors indices were up 1.78 percent and 1.59 percent, respectively.

The mining sector index was the best performer, going up 5.17 percent, while the insurance sector index performed the worst, falling down 0.40 percent.

The stocks of energy and mining company Park Elektrik enjoyed the biggest rise on Friday, gaining 10.53 percent in value, while the stocks of Vakif GMYO, a state-run real estate investment trust saw a 5.92 percent decrease, marking the biggest drop of the day.

The five most traded stocks were national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, private lender Garanti, mining company Koza Madencilik, state lender Halkbank and energy company Ipek Dogal Enerji.

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate slightly fell to 3.5370 Turkish liras as of 5 p.m. (1400GMT) on Friday, down from 3.5390 Turkish liras at Thursday's close.

Borsa Istanbul's Gold Exchange index lost 0.17 percent in value, while the price of gold per kilogram rose to 144,300 Turkish liras (around $40.7) as of 4.30 p.m. (1330GMT).

The BIST 100 was up 628.34 points or 0.59 percent to close at 107,153.78 points on Thursday, with a total trading volume of 4.7 billion Turkish liras (approximately $1.3 billion).