UPDATE - Turkey's Borsa Istanbul up at close

UPDATE WITH MORE DAILY FIGURES

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index climbed 0.37 percent to close at 104,529.93 points on Thursday.

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index started the day at 104,247.57 points, gaining 388.89 points from Wednesday's close of 104,141.04 points.

The benchmark index hovered between 104,127.99 and 105,069.50 points during Thursday's trading.

The total market value of the BIST 100 was around 686.8 billion Turkish liras ($129.8 billion) by market close, and the daily trading volume was 7.3 billion Turkish liras ($1.4 billion).

On the fourth transaction day of the week, 51 stocks on the index were on the rise, 39 were on the decline, and 10 were flat compared to the previous close.

The highest trading volumes were posted by the national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, major appliances producer Vestel, and private lender Garanti.

The shares of conglomerate Tekfen were the top gainers -- up 5.94 percent -- and Vestel dropped the most, losing 4.67 percent.

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate rose to 5.3230 at close, versus Wednesday's close of 5.2950.

The euro/lira rate increased to 6.0720 at Thursday's close, versus 6.0320 at the previous close.

One British pound traded for 7.0670 Turkish liras, while the GBP/TRY rate was 7.0640 at close on Wednesday.

In Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets, the price of one ounce of gold was around $1,324.00 by market close, down from $1,328.50 the previous day.

The price of Brent crude oil was around $66.30 per barrel as of 6 p.m. (1500GMT) Thursday.