Turkish shares renew highest close before holiday

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index rose 0.08 percent to close Tuesday at 110,423.11 points -- its highest-ever close.

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index was up 83.12 points on Monday's close of 110,339.99 points with a total trading volume of 4.2 billion Turkish liras (nearly $1.22 billion).

Since the beginning of this year, the BIST 100 has risen 42 percent, compared to a close of 77,754.46 points on Jan. 2.

There will be no transactions on Wednesday due to Turkey’s official Victory Day holiday, and the stock exchange market will open half-day on Thursday for the upcoming Islamic holiday of Eid Al-Adha.

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate stood at 3.4420 by 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT) Tuesday, down from 3.4490 at Monday's close.

One dollar was exchanged for 3.4590 Turkish liras last Friday. The dollar-lira rate saw its historic high in mid-January this year, climbing to around 3.94.

On Tuesday, the BIST banking index was down 0.52 percent while the holding sector index advanced 0.88 percent.

Among all sectors, the wood paper print sector was the best performer with a 3.06 percent rise and the BIST transportation index fell the most, going down 0.87 percent.

Stocks of conglomerate Dogan Holding (DOHOL) -- heavily involved in media sector -- were the top gainer of the day (up 10.90 percent) while shares of commercial vehicle manufacturer Karsan Otomotiv (KARSN) saw the biggest drop with a 2.74 percent fall.

The BIST 100's most-traded stocks were national flag carrier Turkish Airlines (THYAO), private lender Garanti (GARAN), Dogan Holding (DOHOL), oil and energy company Turcas Petrol (TRCAS) and iron/steel producer Kardemir Karabuk (KRDMD).

Borsa Istanbul's Gold Exchange index rose 1.73 percent while the price of gold per kilogram was 146,250 Turkish liras ($42,485) as of 4.30 p.m. local time (1330GMT) Tuesday, up from 144,000 Turkish liras ($41,776) at Monday's close.

The price of gold per kilogram was 144,000 Turkish liras ($41,720) at close on Friday, Aug. 25.