Turkish shares up at close

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey’s benchmark index closed the day with a 288.14-point increase to stand at 77,835.85 points on Thursday.

The BIST 100 index advanced by 0.37 percent, and the total trading volume of the benchmark index was around 1.8 billion Turkish liras (approximately $510 million).

On the fourth day of the week, the banking index was flat with a 0.08 percent fall and the holding sector increased by 0.34 percent. Among all sector indices, the mining sector rose the most -- 3.75 percent -- while the basic metal index declined the most, by 0.90 percent.

The most heavily-traded stocks were private lender Garanti Bank, the national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, telecommunication leader Turk Telekom, state lender Halkbank, and one of Turkey's major sports clubs Galatasaray.

Bagfas Bandirma, operating in the field of fertilizer production, enjoyed a 6.11 percent rise in its shares -- the highest of the day. Shares of Alarko Gayrimenkul, a real estate investment trust, suffered from the largest decline with a 1.85 percent decrease.

The Borsa Istanbul Gold Exchange index rose by 0.59 percent in value, with gold trading at 130,500 Turkish liras (some $36,967) per kilogram as of 4.30 p.m. (1330GMT).

Lira gained value against the dollar, and the U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate decreased to stand at 3.5300 as of 5 p.m. (1400GMT) on Thursday, compared to 3.5460 in Wednesday's closing session.

Turkey increased its minimum wage 8 percent as of New Year’s Day, to just over 1,400 Turkish liras per month ($397), the country's labor minister said Thursday.