Turkish stocks surge after Erdogan's election victory

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's stock exchange Monday morning rose 3.55 percent after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's election victory on Sunday based on preliminary results.

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index started the week at 99,255.76 points, up 3,403.66 points.

All sector indices started the day with gains, while the mining index posted the best performance, up 12.19 percent.

The BIST banking index and the BIST holding index rose 5.60 percent and 1.78 percent, respectively.

Sunday night Erdogan became Turkey's first leader under a presidential system of government, and the People’s Alliance – an alliance between his ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) – also secured a parliamentary majority, according to unofficial results.

Turkey's Supreme Election Council (YSK) announced on Monday that with 99.2 percent of the ballot boxes opened, Erdogan is leading with 52.5 percent of the vote, while his major rival Muharrem Ince lags behind at 30.6 percent.

Also in Sunday's parliamentary elections, the People's Alliance won 53.6 percent of the votes, with 99.1 percent of the ballot boxes opened so far.

On Friday, the BIST 100 index closed at 95,852.11, up 0.84 percent, with a trade volume of 4.9 billion Turkish liras ($1.04 billion).

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate dropped to 4.5490 as of 9.30 a.m. local time (0630GMT) on Monday from 4.6950 at Friday's close.

The euro/lira exchange rate slipped to 5.2970 in the open market -- from 5.4720 at the previous close -- while one British pound traded for 6.0440 Turkish liras versus 6.2310 at the previous close.

The price of Brent oil dropped to $74.03 per barrel as of 10.00 a.m. local time (0700GMT) Friday, from $75.32 at the previous close.