By Jeyhun Aliyev
ANKARA (AA) – Turkey's benchmark stock index started Thursday flat with 0.03 percent or 30.50 points gain to open at 92,257.88 points.
The banking and holding sector indices gained 0.36 and 0.10 percent, respectively. The BIST wholesale and retail trade index was the worst performer at open with a 2.91-percent decline, while the telecommunication sector index was the top gainer with a 0.83-percent increase.
The monetary policy committee meeting of the Turkish Central Bank will be held on Thursday. The bank is expected to raise interest rates this week.
On Wednesday, Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index decreased 0.18 percent to close at 92,227.37 points with a trading volume of some 7 billion Turkish liras ($1.1 billion).
The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate stood at 6.3570 as of 9.30 a.m. local time (0630GMT), compared with Wednesday's closing rate of 6.3530. The rate was 6.7840 at the end of August.
The euro/lira rate was 7.3960 on Thursday morning, versus 7.3810 at the previous close, while one British pound was traded for 8.2990 Turkish liras, up from 8.2820 at Wednesday's close.
The price of Brent oil was $79.38 per barrel as of 10 a.m. local time (0700GMT) Thursday, starting the day at $79.72, while it was around $66 at the beginning of this year.
