Turkey's Borsa Istanbul up over 1 percent at close

By Gokhan Ergocun

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey’s benchmark stock index, BIST 100, was up 1,270.41 points, or 1.08 percent, to close at 118,791.91 points on Monday.

The trade volume was 6 billion Turkish liras ($1.58 billion) while the banking and holding sector indices increased by 0.90 and 1.22 percent, respectively.

Among all sector indices, the transportation sector index was the best performer with 3.32 percent while the sports sector index fell the most -- 1.41 percent.

Stocks of electronics appliances producer Vestel Elektronik were the top gainer of the day -- with a 15.54 percent rise -- while stocks of Turkey's prominent sports club Fenerbahce fell 3.24 percent -- the biggest drop of the day.

The day's most-traded stocks were national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, electronics appliances producer Vestel, private lender Garanti, energy company Zorlu Enerji, and iron and steel producer Kardemir.

BIST 100 index increased 680.56 points, or 0.58 percent, to 117,521.50 at last week's close with a total trading volume of 5.14 billion Turkish liras ($1.35 billion).

The US dollar/Turkish lira rate stood at 3.7860 as of 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT) on Monday, from 3.7880 at previous day's close.

The euro/lira exchange rate rose slighlty to 4.6610, compared with last week's close of 4.6590.

The BIST Gold Exchange index gained 0.30 percent in value, while a kilogram of gold traded at 162,000 Turkish liras ($42,806) as of 4.30 p.m. local time (1330GMT) Monday, down from Friday's closing price of 162,100 Turkish liras ($42,833).

As of 6 p.m. local time (1500GMT) Monday, the price of Brent oil stood at $66.69 per barrel, versus $66.61 at the previous close.