Turkey's Borsa Istanbul starts midweek 0.55% up

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index rose 0.55%, or 564.76 points, on Wednesday to start the day at 102,547.72 points.

At Monday's close, Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index was up 2.22% at 101,982.96 points, with a daily trading volume of 14.8 billion Turkish liras ($2.16 billion).

Borsa Istanbul markets were closed on Tuesday as Turkey marked the Commemoration of Ataturk, Youth and Sports Day on May 19 by remembering the country’s founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk and the heroes of the War of Independence.

The US dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate slipped to 6.7920 as of 9.30 a.m. local time (0630GMT) on Wednesday, versus 6.8850 at the previous close.

The euro/Turkish lira exchange rate fell to 7.4320, compared to 7.4740, and one British pound traded for 8.3340 Turkish liras, versus 8.4100 on Monday's close.

One barrel of Brent crude oil sold for around $34.86 as of 10 a.m. local time (0700GMT) on Wednesday.