Turkey's Borsa Istanbul up nearly 1.5 pct at close

By Gokhan Ergocun

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index closed Monday up 1.49 percent at 103,370.42 points with a trading volume of around 5.47 billion Turkish liras ($1.26 billion).

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index ended the day with a 1,517.94-point rise from the last week's close of 101,852.48 points, while it opened the day at 101,738.20 points, dowm 0.11 percent.

The USD/TRY exchange rose to 4.3200 as of 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT) Monday, compared with 4.2950 at Friday's close. It had hit an all-time high with 4.3720 last week.

The euro/lira exchange rate also increased to 5.1760 by market close, versus 5.1390 at the previous close, and one British pound was traded 5.8840 Turkish liras, compared with 5.8500 at Friday's close.

The BIST Gold Exchange index fell by 0.16 percent at the close. In Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets, one ounce of gold traded for $1,318.00 as of 4.30 p.m. local time (1330GMT) Monday, compared with $1,320.10 at previous close.

The price of Brent oil rose hit its 43-month high with $78.11 per barrel as of 18.00 a.m. local time (1500GMT) Monday. It was over $85.8 in October 2014 and around $70.1 in November 2014. It saw around $34.70 per barrel as its lowest level at the beginning of 2016.