Turkish stocks up nearly 1.5 pct at close

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index was up 1.42 percent to close at 102,651.10 points on Thursday with a trading volume of 5 billion Turkish liras (around $1.4 billion).

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index advanced 1,432.80 points from Wednesday's close at 101,218.30, while the banking and holding sector indices were up 1.99 and 0.78 percent, respectively.

Among all sectors, the BIST mining index was the top performer -- up 4.90 percent -- while the BIST construction index suffered the biggest loss, going down 0.90 percent.

Stocks of major cardboard producer Kartonsan (KARTN) had the best performance of the day with a 9.66 percent hike. TAV Airports Holding (TAVHL), Turkey's leading airport operator, on the other hand, was the worst performer, with its stocks falling 2.20 percent.

The top traded shares of the BIST 100 were national flag carrier Turkish Airlines (THYAO), lenders Garanti (GARAN) and Akbank (AKBNK), followed by iron and steel producer Kardemir Karabuk (KRDMD) and defense company Aselsan (ASELS).

The US dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate stood at 3.5650 by 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT) on Thursday, down from 3.5740 at Wednesday's close.

Borsa Istanbul's Gold Exchange index fell 0.18 percent while the price of gold per kilogram went down to 146,000 Turkish liras ($40,982) as of 4.30 p.m. local time (1330GMT) compared to 148,500 Turkish liras ($41,588) at the close on Wednesday.

The benchmark stock index was down 2,711.04 points or 2.61 percent to close at 101,218.30 points on the previous day.