Turkiye’s BIST 100 index up at Friday open

By Aysu Bicer

ANKARA (AA) – Turkiye’s benchmark stock index opened at 1,883.17 points on Friday, up 31.78 points, or 1.72%, from the previous close.

Major stock indices around the world closed Thursday in negative territory with massive losses amid rising risks in the financial sector surrounding Russian intervention in Ukraine.

The BIST 100 index closed with losses too, sharply down 8.17% to 1,851.38 points, with a daily trading volume of 25.3 billion Turkish liras ($1.77 billion).

But on Friday Turkish stocks rebounded as the US and EU slapped tougher sanctions on Russia.

The US dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate rose to 14.0907 as of 9.30 a.m. local time (0630GMT), from 13.9710 at Thursday’s close.

The euro/lira exchange rate climbed to 15.7954 from 15.6210, while a British pound traded for 18.9000 liras, up from 18.7270 a day earlier.

International benchmark Brent crude was trading at $97.47 per barrel at 0646 GMT for a 2.15% gain, after closing the previous session at $95.42 a barrel.

American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) traded at $94.61 per barrel after a 1.94% increase. The previous session closed at $92.81 a barrel.