Turkish shares up at close

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey’s benchmark index closed up 0.31 percent at 107,040.67 points on Tuesday.

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index rose 330.15 points with a total trading volume of 4.8 billion Turkish liras ($1.34 billion).

The BIST 100 closed last week with a 1.58 percent weekly increase at 106,842.79.

The banking and holding sectors advanced 0.12 and 0.27 percent, respectively. Among all sectors, BIST telecommunication index performed the best -- up 2.60 percent -- while the mining sector index declined the most with a 1.65 percent fall.

Stocks of IT company Kron Telekomunikasyon (KRONT) enjoyed the biggest rise with a 7.25 percent hike while shares of telecommunication company Alcatel Lucent Teletas (ALCTL) saw the biggest drop for the second day in a row, declining by 4.66 percent.

The five most-traded stocks were national flag carrier Turkish Airlines (THYAO), private lender Garanti (GARAN), cellphone operator Turkcell (TCELL), followed by real estate investment trust Emlak Konut GMYO (EKGYO) and major defense systems company Aselsan (ASELS).

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate climbed to 3.5610 as of 5 p.m. (1400GMT), compared to 3.5560 at Monday’s close. One dollar was traded for 3.5320 Turkish liras last Friday.

Borsa Istanbul's Gold Exchange index fell 0.45 percent, while the price of gold per kilogram stood at 143,500 Turkish liras ($40,273) as of 4.30 p.m. (1330GMT), compared with 143,550 Turkish liras ($40,439) at Monday's close.