UPDATE - Turkey's Borsa Istanbul hits all-time high

UPDATES WITH MORE FIGURES; MINOR EDITS THROUGHOUT

By Aysu Bicer

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index hit all-time high, increased 2.91% to close Wednesday at 1.279,22 points.

After starting the day at 1,249.87 points, Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index earned 36.21 points over Tuesday's close of 1,243.00 points.

During the day, the index hovered between 1,248.43 and 1,258.21 points.

The total market value of the BIST 100 was around 928 billion Turkish liras ($112 billion) by market close, with a daily trading volume of 52.5 billion Turkish liras (nearly $6.6 billion).

The price of one ounce of gold was $1,857.00 by market close, down from $1,860.00 at the previous close, according to data from Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets.

The highest trading volumes were posted by private lender Garanti BBVA, state lender Halkbank, and flagship carrier Turkish Airlines.

Cement producer Bursa Cimento was the best performer, with its shares up 9.99%, while stocks of automotive producer Ford Otosan dropped the most with 4.35%.

The price of Brent crude oil was around $44.70 per barrel as of 6.15 p.m. local time (1515GMT) on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the US dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate fell rapidly on Wednesday as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to open a new era to improve investment environment in the country.

The rate dropped to 7.99 level as of 2.23 p.m. local time (1123GMT) and currently stands around 7.87.