UPDATE - Turkey's Borsa Istanbul up %0.59 at close

BIST 100 index closes day at 116,524.78 points, highest level since Feb. 21

UPDATES WITH MORE DAILY FIGURES

By Aysu Bicer

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index rose by 0.59% to reach 116,524.78 points at the closing session of Tuesday.

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index started the day at 116,426.13 points. It earned 681.77 points from Monday's close of 115,843.01 points.

Tuesday's closing has been the highest level posted since Feb. 21.

During the day, the index hovered between 116,146.78 points and 116,970.70 points.

The total market value of the BIST 100 was around 839 billion Turkish liras ($122 billion) by market close, with a daily trading volume of 23.3 billion Turkish liras ($3.4 billion).

Shares of iron/steel producer Kardemir, private lender Garanti and real estate investment trust Emlak Konut GYO saw the highest trading volumes during the day.

Stocks of private equity firm Gozde Girisim were the top gainer with a 9.87% rise, while shares of electrolytic copper producer Sarkuysan dropped the most, falling 2.56%.

One ounce of gold sold for $1,770.00 by market close, down from $1,772.00 at the previous close, according to data from Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets.

The price of Brent crude oil was around $41.59 per barrel as of 6 p.m. (1500GMT) on Tuesday.