Turkish shares over 90,000 points at close

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey’s benchmark index closed the day with a 486.67-point hike to reach 90,181.73 points Tuesday.

The BIST 100 index advanced by 0.54 percent with a total trading volume of 3.5 billion Turkish liras ($965 million).

On the second trading day of the week, banking and holding sectors rose by 1.19 and 0.24 percent, respectively.

The banking sector was the day’s best performer while the textile leather index closed the day with the biggest decline, falling by 2.43 percent.

The five most traded stocks were national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, lenders Halkbank and Garanti, real estate investment trust Emlak Konut followed by another lender Akbank.

Ihlas Holding's shares (IHLAS) performed the best Tuesday with an increase of 7.69 percent, while the stocks of Park Elektrik (PRKME), which operates in the energy and mining sectors, saw the biggest drop of the day, declining by 6.45 percent.

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate increased to 3.6210 liras as of 5 p.m. (1400GMT) Tuesday, compared with 3.6130 at Monday's close.

The dollar traded for 3.6230 liras last Friday after seeing a historic hike -- around 3.94 liras -- in mid-January.

The Borsa Istanbul Gold Exchange index was down by 0.32 percent while the price of gold per kilogram increased to 146,100 Turkish liras (some $40,302) as of 4.30 p.m. (1330GMT), compared with 145,650 Turkish liras (around $40,303) at Monday's close.