UPDATE - Turkey's Borsa Istanbul flat at close

BIST 100 increases slightly by around 19 points, while Turkish lira gains in value against foreign currencies

UPDATE WITH MORE DAILY FIGURES

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index close Thursday at 99,382.20 points, increasing slightly by 0.02%.

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index started the day at 99,730.96 points. It earned 18.88 points from Wednesday's close of 99,363.32 points.

The benchmark index hovered between 98,527.33 and 100,008.70 points during Thursday's trading.

The total market value of the BIST 100 was around 661.5 billion Turkish liras ($117.5 billion) by market close, and the daily trading volume was 5.3 billion Turkish liras ($941 million).

On the fourth transaction day of the week, 36 stocks on the index rose, 56 were down, and eight were flat compared to the previous close.

The top-listed companies by market value were Turkish conglomerate Koc Holding and private lenders Garanti and Akbank.

The highest trading volumes were posted by national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, Garanti, and Akbank.

Frozen foods producer Kerevitas was the best performer, with its shares up 5.06%, while stocks of private lender ICBC Turkey Bank dropped most, down 12.53%.

The price of Brent crude oil was around $62.60 per barrel as of 6 p.m. (1500GMT) Thursday.