By Muhammed Ali Gurtas
ANKARA (AA) – Turkey's benchmark stock index closed Thursday up 1.11 percent at 94,540.84 points with a total trading volume of around 3.2 billion Turkish liras ($680 million).
Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index ended the day with a 1,036.08-point hike from the previous close of 93,504.76 points, while it started the last business day of the week at 93,295.87 points.
On Thursday, the benchmark stock index was open only in morning session, due to the eve of the Muslim Eid al-Fitr holiday. On Friday, there will be no transaction.
During the trading hours, the BIST 100 index saw the lowest level at 92,750.94 points and the highest at 95,406.17 points, while 55 stocks on the index were on the rise, 34 fell and 11 were flat compared to the previous close.
The total market value of listed shares on the BIST 100 was 601.6 billion Turkish liras ($129.4 billion) at the close, while the banking and holding sector indices were up 0.17 and 0.74 percent, respectively.
Among all sectors, the BIST technology index fell the most with a 2.51 percent drop, while the wholesale and retail trade sector index saw the best performance, going up 4.18 percent.
Shares of energy company Ipek Dogal Enerji (IPEKE) were the top gainer — rising 6.63 percent — and stocks of conglomerate Tekfen Holding (TKFEN) — involved in oil, power generation, construction and infrastructure ended the day with the worst performance, falling 2.79 percent.
The BIST 100's most-traded listed companies were national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, private lender Garanti Bankasi, major defense company Aselsan, iron and steel producer Kardemir, and the country's largest petrochemicals producer, Petkim.
On Thursday, the USD/TRY exchange fell slightly to 4.6270 as of 12.30 p.m. local time (0930GMT), versus 4.6450 at Wednesday's close.
The euro/lira exchange rate was flat at 5.4730 at noon, compared with 5.4790 at the previous close, and one British pound traded for 6.2320 Turkish liras, while the GBP/TRY rate was 6.2090 by market close on Wednesday.
In Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets, an ounce of gold traded for $1,305.06 as of 12.40 p.m. local time (0940GMT) Thursday, versus $1,295.00 at previous close.
As of 1 p.m. local time (1000GMT), the price of Brent oil stood at $76.52 per barrel — hovering between $76.31 and $76.90 during the day — while it was around $66 at the beginning of this year.
