By Muhammed Ali Gurtas
ANKARA (AA) – Turkey's benchmark stock index closed Thursday up 0.23 percent at 116,856.02 points with a 7.5-billion Turkish lira ($1.98-billion) trade volume.
Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index rose 263.51 points, up from Wednesday's close at 116,592.51 points, while the banking sector index advanced 0.12 percent and the holding sector index was flat with a 0.01 percent down.
Among all sectors, the BIST telecommunication index was the top performer for a second day in a row — up 4.04 percent — while the BIST mining index went down the most, falling 1.30 percent.
Stocks of investment trust Global Yatirim Holding (GLYHO) were the top gainers with an 8.15 percent hike. Shares of energy and construction company Isiklar Enerji Yapi Holding (IEYHO) showed the worst performance on Thursday, going down 2.44 percent.
The five most-traded stocks were national flag-carrier Turkish Airlines, lenders Garanti and Halkbank, investment trust Global Yatirim Holding and iron/steel producer Kardemir.
The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate fell to 3.7820 as of 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT), down from 3.8230 at Wednesday's close.
The euro/lira rate was also down at 4.6350 by market close, compared with the previous close of 4.6730.
The BIST Gold Exchange index dropped 0.33 percent in value, while the price of gold per kilogram was down to 161,900 Turkish liras (around $42,798) as of 5.30 p.m. local time (1430GMT).
The price of Brent oil was $69.30 per barrel as of 7.30 p.m. local time (1630GMT), compared to $69.20 at the previous close.
