Turkey's Borsa Istanbul up at close

By Dilara Zengin

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index closed the day up 1.07 percent at 108,354.83 points with a trade volume of 5 billion Turkish liras ($.1.3 billion).

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index rose 1,148.51 points, up from 107,206.31 points at the close on Tuesday, while the banking and holding sector indices fell 2.51 and 0.41 percent, respectively.

Among all sectors, the banking sector index was the top performer, while the telecommunication sector index suffered the biggest drop, losing 1.61 percent.

Stocks of commercial vehicle manufacturer Karsan Otomotiv performed best, up 11.03 percent, while telecommunications giant Turk Telekom's stocks suffered the most, falling 4.07 percent.

The top five traded shares of the BIST 100 were national flag carrier Turkish Airlines (THYAO), private lender Garanti (GARAN), defense company Aselsan (ASELS), iron and steel producer Kardemir Karabuk (KRDMD), and prominent electronics and appliances manufacturer Arcelik (ARCLK).

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate rose to 3.7300 by 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT) on Wednesday, up from 3.7250 at Tuesday's close.

Borsa Istanbul's Gold Exchange index fell 0.31 percent, while the price of gold per kilogram reached 151,000 Turkish liras ($40,441) as of 4.30 p.m. local time (1330GMT) compared with 152,650 Turkish liras ($41,053) at close on Tuesday.