Turkish stocks post highest close with largest volume

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index posted its highest close ever at 113,024.27 points along with the largest trade volume on Wednesday.

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index advanced 2.62 percent or 2,881.67 points, up from Tuesday's close at 110,142.60 points. During the trading hours, the index hit its highest peak ever, climbing to 113,501.91 points.

On the mid-week trading day, the BIST 100 also recorded its largest trade volume with 10.1 billion Turkish liras ($2.64 billion), while the banking and holding sector indices rose by 3.44 and 2.75 percent, respectively.

Among all sectors, the BIST telecommunication index performed the best with a 4.68 percent hike, and the investment trust sector index fell the most, going down 1.14 percent.

In October, the index saw a 7.03 percent monthly rise, as its ten-month performance saw over 45 percent hike compared with the close at 77,754.46 points on Jan. 2 -- the first trading day of 2017.

On Wednesday, stocks of Vestel, a major electronics/appliances manufacturer, were the top gainer of the day -- up 11.54 percent -- while shares of commercial vehicle manufacturer Karsan Otomotiv saw the largest decline with a 3.37 percent drop.

The BIST 100 top five most traded stocks were Karsan Otomotiv, national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, Vestel, followed by iron/steel producer Kardemir Karabuk and private lender Garanti.

- Gold prices saw highest level

Meanwhile, the BIST Gold Exchange index increased by 0.51 percent and the price of gold per kilogram saw its highest level at 157,250 Turkish liras ($41,175) on Wednesday.

At the close of gold markets, 4.30 p.m. local time (1330GMT), one kilogram gold traded at 155,400 Turkish liras ($40,691), relatively stable compared with Tuesday's close at 155,300 Turkish liras ($40,956).

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate rose to 3.8210 as of 5 p.m. local time (1400 GMT) Wednesday, climbed from Tuesday's close at 3.8040. In October, Turkish lira lost ground, around 5.6 percent, against the U.S. dollar.

The average USD/TRY exchange rate was 3.66 last month and 3.47 in September, while the ten-month average rate was 3.61, following the sharp fluctuations after last year's defeated coup attempt and climbed to its historic high -- around 3.94 liras -- in mid-January this year.

According to Turkey's Central Bank, the U.S. dollar/Turkish lira rate was 3.02 on average last year and 2.71 on average in 2015.

The euro/lira rate also went up at Wednesday's close -- to 4.4370 from Tuesday's close at 4.4270.

As of 6 p.m. local time (1500 GMT) Wednesday, Brent oil price was $60.90 per barrel, compared with $60.47 at Tuesday's close.