Borsa Istanbul stocks flat at open

By Gokhan Ergocun </p> <p>ISTANBUL (AA) – Turkey's benchmark stock index rose slightly by 0.04 percent or 36.77 points to open Thursday at 94,477.87 points.</p> <p>On Wednesday, Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index increased by 0.97 percent to close the day at 94,441.10 points with a daily trading volume of 5.77 billion Turkish liras ($1.03 billion).</p> <p>The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate rose to 5.6520 as of 9.30 a.m. local time (0630GMT), compared to 5.6180 at Wednesday's close. </p> <p>The euro/Turkish lira exchange rate also increased to 6.3670, versus 6.3190 at the previous close. </p> <p>One British pound traded for 7.4650 Turkish liras, as the GBP/TRY exchange rate was 7.3990 at market close on Wednesday. </p> <p>The price of Brent oil was around $69.10 per barrel as of 10.00 a.m. local time (0700GMT) on Thursday.