Turkey's Borsa Istanbul up at close

By Dilara Zengin

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey’s benchmark index closed the day up 139.56 points Tuesday to stand at 98,331.54 points.

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index rose 0.14 percent with a total trading volume of 4.3 billion Turkish liras (approximately $1.2 billion).

On the second transaction day of the week, the banking sector index climbed 0.20 percent, while the holding sector index was down 0.12 percent.

Among all indices, the chemical, petrol, and plastic sector index was the best performer, up 1.66 percent, while the sports sector index was the worst, down 1.64 percent.

The stocks of Tesco Kipa (KIPA), which operates supermarkets in major Turkish cities, enjoyed the biggest rise on Monday, up 15.84 percent, while the stocks of Aksa Enerji (AKSEN), operating in the energy sector, saw a 3.76 percent decrease, marking the biggest drop of the day.

The five most-traded stocks were national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, private lender Garanti, major iron and steel producer Kardemir, state lender Halkbank, and other lender Akbank.

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate fell to 3.5160 Turkish liras as of 5 p.m. (1400GMT) on Tuesday, up from 3.5220 Turkish liras at Monday's close.

Borsa Istanbul's Gold Exchange index climbed 0.66 percent, while the price of gold per kilogram rose to 146,500 Turkish liras (around $41,598) as of 4.30 p.m. (1330GMT).