UPDATE - Turkey's Borsa Istanbul closes above 1,600 points for 1st time

UPDATES WITH MORE DAILY FIGURES

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) – Turkey's benchmark stock index climbed above 1,600 points for the first time in history to close Monday at a new record high of 1,608.54 points.

Starting the day at 1,589.43 points, Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index increased 24.95 points, or 1.58%, from Friday's close of 1,583.59 points.

This was the third consecutive trading day that the BIST 100 posted an all-time high.

The index's lowest value during the day was 1,589.23 points and its daily high was 1,609.07 points.

The total market value of the BIST 100 was over 1.26 trillion Turkish liras ($130.2 billion) by market close, with a daily trading volume of 25.6 billion Turkish liras ($2.6 billion).

A total of 74 stocks on the index rose, while 21 fell and five remained unchanged compared to Friday's close.

The highest trading volumes were posted by private lender Garanti BBVA, national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, and petrochemical firm Petkim.

Shares of conglomerate Verusa Holding performed the best, rising 6.65%, while stocks of automotive company Karsan ​​​​​​​dropped the most, 2.41%.

One ounce of gold traded for $1,816.00 by market close, up from $1,786.10 at the previous close, according to data from Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets.

The price of Brent crude oil was up 0.6% to $83.23 per barrel as of 6.34 p.m. local time (1534GMT).