Turkey's Borsa Istanbul up at close

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index closed Wednesday up 405.90 points to stand at 105,323.67 points with a trade volume of 4.3 billion Turkish liras ($1.24 billion).

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index rose at close after a three-day downward performance, up 0.39 percent from 104,917.77 points at closing on Tuesday, while the banking and holding sector indices went up 0.36 and 0.64 percent, respectively.

Among all sectors, the BIST mining index advanced the most with a 3.38 percent hike, while the chemical petrol plastic sector index fell 1.15 percent, the biggest drop on Wednesday.

The shares of gold miner Koza Altin (KOZAL) showed the highest increase with a 4.67 percent rise, and liquefied petroleum gas company Aygaz (AYGAZ) was the worst performer with a 3.60 percent fall.

The five most-traded stocks of the BIST 100 were national flag carrier Turkish Airlines (THYAO), private lender Garanti (GARAN), iron/steel producer Kardemir Karabuk (KRDMD), telecommunication giant Turkcell (TCELL) and state lender Halkbank (HALKB).

Borsa Istanbul's Gold Exchange index was down 0.25 percent while the price of gold per kilogram stood at 146,700 Turkish liras ($42,274) as of 4.30 p.m. local time (1330GMT) on Wednesday.

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate fell to 3.4710 by 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT) Wednesday, down from 3.4930 at Tuesday's close.

One dollar was traded for 3.51 on average last month, while the first eight month's average exchange rate was 3.61.

The USD/TRY rate saw sharp fluctuations after last year's defeated coup and climbed to its historic hike -- around 3.94 liras -- in mid-January this year.

According to Turkish Central Bank data, the dollar/lira rate was 3.02 on average last year and 2.71 on average in 2015.