Turkish stocks hit historic high

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark index reached 93,408.39 points on Monday afternoon -- a new record high.

The previous record was 93,398.33 points on May, 22, 2013.

The BIST 100 index closed last week at 92,423.93 points, an increase of 2.62 percent in a week compared with to 90,063.69 points recorded on April 14.

Turkish stocks opened the week by rising 0.54 percent; the banking and holding sector indices were up 0.27 percent and 0.72 percent respectively.

Considering Monday's transactions, the benchmark index has advanced nearly 19.5 percent compared with the close of 2016.

Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar/Turkish lira rate hovered at around 3.59 -- the lowest level in nearly six months -- at 3.30 p.m. local time (1230GMT) on Monday.

One dollar traded for 3.6060 liras at 9.30 a.m. local time (0630GMT) at Monday's opening session, compared with 3.6440 at Friday’s close.