Turkish stocks end day with gains

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index rose 0.61 percent to close Wednesday at 102,157.88 points with a trading volume of around 6.8 billion Turkish liras ($1.54 billion).

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index ended the day with a 617.49 point hike from Tuesday's close of 101,540.39 points, while it opened the midweek trading day at 101,611.97 points.

The USD/TRY exchange fell to 4.4180 as of 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT) Wednesday, down from 4.4590 at Tuesday's close.

The euro/lira exchange rate dropped to 5.2160 by market close, versus 5.2740 at the previous close, while the British pound/lira exchange rate was flat at 5.9820, compared with 6.0100 at Tuesday's close.

The BIST Gold Exchange index ended the day with a 0.88 percent decrease. In Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets, one ounce of gold traded for $1,285.10 as of 4.30 p.m. local time (1330GMT) Wednesday, compared with $1,296.50 at Tuesday's close.

As of 6 p.m. local time (1500GMT), the price of Brent oil stood at $78.12 per barrel -- hovering between $77.62 and $77.43 during the course of Wednesday -- up from around $66 at the beginning of 2018.