UPDATE - Turkey's Borsa Istanbul up nearly 1.5 pct at close

UPDATES WITH MORE DAILY FIGURES

By Gokhan Ergocun

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index closed Monday up 1.49 percent at 103,370.42 points with a trading volume of around 5.47 billion Turkish liras ($1.26 billion).

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index ended the day with a 1,517.94-point rise from the last week's close of 101,852.48 points, while it opened the day at 101,738.20 points, dowm 0.11 percent.

The benchmark index hovered between 101,564.56 points and 103,763.00 points, while 46 stocks on the index were on the rise, 9 on the decline, and 45 flat compared to the previous close.

The total market value of listed shares on the BIST 100 was around 827 billion Turkish liras ($191.7 billion) at the close, while the banking and holding sector indices rose 1.38 percent and 1.58 percent, respectively.

Among all sectors, the mining sector index was the best performer, rising 4.15 percent, and the sports sector index saw the biggest drop, declining 2.88 percent.

The stocks of event organizer Flap Kongre Toplanti Hizmetleri climbed the most, up 15.11 percent, while those of prominent sports club Galatasaray were the worst, falling 8.20 percent.

The BIST 100's most-traded listed companies were national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, iron/steel producer Kardemir, leading polyester producer Sasa, private lender Garanti and state lender Halkbank.

The USD/TRY exchange rose to 4.3200 as of 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT) Monday, compared with 4.2950 at Friday's close. It had hit an all-time high with 4.3720 last week.

The euro/lira exchange rate also increased to 5.1760 by market close, versus 5.1390 at the previous close, and one British pound was traded 5.8840 Turkish liras, compared with 5.8500 at Friday's close.

The BIST Gold Exchange index fell by 0.16 percent at the close. In Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets, one ounce of gold traded for $1,318.00 as of 4.30 p.m. local time (1330GMT) Monday, compared with $1,320.10 at previous close.

The price of Brent oil rose hit its 43-month high with $78.11 per barrel as of 18.00 a.m. local time (1500GMT) Monday. It was over $85.8 in October 2014 and around $70.1 in November 2014. It saw around $34.70 per barrel as its lowest level at the beginning of 2016.

Turkey's current account deficit rose $1.7 billion to $4.8 billion year-on-year in March, and the country's 12-month rolling deficit reached $55.4 billion in the month, Turkish Central Bank (CBRT) announced on Monday.