Turkey's benchmark stock index ends Tuesday up 0.93%

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) – Turkey's benchmark stock index ended Tuesday up 0.93% to close at 95,415.57 points.

After starting the day at 94,736.05 points, Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index surged 880.47 points from 94,535.10 at Monday's close.

The stock exchange market will be closed on Wednesday for May 1 International Labor Day, an official holiday in Turkey.

Hovering between 94,736.05 and 95,730.16 points during Tuesday's trading, 54 stocks on the index rose while 36 fell and 10 remained flat compared to the previous close.

The benchmark index closed Tuesday with a market value of nearly 631 billion Turkish liras ($106 billion), and posted a daily trading volume of 6.07 billion Turkish liras ($1.02 billion).

By market capitalization, Turkish conglomerate Koc Holding ($6.89 billion), private lender Garanti BBVA ($5.76 billion), and iron/steel producer Eregli Demir Celik ($5.38 billion) were the BIST 100's top companies.

The daily trading volume leaders were Garanti BBVA, national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, and prominent Turkish sports club Galatasaray — accounting for nearly 38.5% of the benchmark index's total trading volume.

Stocks of another major Turkish sports club Besiktas (BJKAS) were the best performers — up 14.16% — as shares conglomerate Ihlas Holding (IHLAS) saw the largest decline, going down 9.09%.

One ounce of gold sold for $1,283.35 at the daily close in Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets, versus $1,282.50 at Monday's close.

The price of Brent oil was $72.31 per barrel as of 7.15 p.m. local time (1615GMT) on Tuesday — with a day range of $71.19 to $72.78.

At the beginning of 2019, a barrel of Brent oil sold for around $53.