Turkey's Borsa Istanbul up at close

By Dilara Zengin

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey’s benchmark index closed the day up 192.68 points Monday to stand at 97,725.95 points.

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index increased 0.20 percent with a total trading volume of 3 billion Turkish liras (approximately $838.4 million).

On the first transaction day of the week, the banking and holding sector indices rose by 0.36 percent and 0.07 percent, respectively.

Among all indices, the mining sector index was the best performer, up 1.66 percent, while the information technology sector index was the worst, down 1.49 percent.

The stocks of integrated electric producer and wholesaler Odas Elektrik (ODAS) enjoyed the biggest rise on Monday with a 7.96 percent hike, while the stocks of Sasa Polyester Sanayi (SASA), a leading polyester producer saw a 5.24 percent decrease, marking the biggest drop of the day.

The five most-traded stocks were national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, private lender Garanti, prominent sports club Besiktas, Turkish conglomerate Koc Holding and state lender Halkbank.

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate slightly rose to 3.5750 Turkish liras as of 6 p.m. (1500GMT) on Monday, up from 3.5740 Turkish liras at Friday's close.

Borsa Istanbul's Gold Exchange index increased 0.24 percent, while the price of gold per kilogram rose to 146,035 Turkish liras (around $40,812) as of 4.30 p.m. (1330GMT).