Turkish stocks up at close

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index went up 0.68 percent to close at 109,611.79 points on Wednesday.

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index started the day flat with a 0.08 percent increase to open at 108,964.74 points on Wednesday, compared to closing at 108,872.99 points on Tuesday, which was the first trading day of the week due to a four-and-a-half-day break for the Muslim holiday of Eid Al-Adha.

Total trading volume of the benchmark index was 4.8 billion Turkish liras (nearly $1.4 billion), while the chemical petrol plastic sector index rose the most -- up 3.64 percent -- and the BIST information technology index saw the largest decline with a 0.51 percent fall.

Stocks of oil refiner Tupras enjoyed the biggest rise of the day, up 5.65 percent, and shares of poultry and feed producer Banvit went down 3.51 percent, the biggest drop on Wednesday.

The BIST 100's most-traded stocks were national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, Tupras, private lender Garanti, media giant and oil distributer Dogan Holding and mining company Koza Madencilik.

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate stood at 3.4340 by 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT) Wednesday, compared with 3.4330 at Tuesday's close.

One dollar was exchanged for 3.51 on average last month, while the first eight months' average USD/TRY rate was 3.61.

According to Turkish Central Bank data, the dollar/lira rate was 3.02 on average last year and 2.71 on average in 2015.

The exchange rate saw sharp fluctuations after last year's defeated coup and climbed to its historic hike -- around 3.94 liras -- in mid-January this year.

Borsa Istanbul's Gold Exchange index rose 0.40, percent while the price of gold per kilogram climbed to 148,350 Turkish liras ($43,296) as of 4.30 p.m. local time (1330GMT) Wednesday, up from 147,800 Turkish liras ($43,051) at Tuesday's close.