UPDATES WITH MORE DAILY FIGURES
By Jeyhun Aliyev
ANKARA (AA) – Turkey's benchmark stock index closed Wednesday at 98,991.01 points, a rise of 0.53 percent.
Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index climbed 524.59 points from Tuesday's close of 98,466.42 points, while it started the midweek business day at 99,223.27 points.
The market value of listed shares on the BIST 100 totalled 646.42 billion Turkish liras (around $112 billion), while the trade volume of the benchmark index was 9.4 billion Turkish liras (around $1.7 billion).
During the midweek trading, the benchmark index hovered between 98,069.70 points and 99,553.94 points, while 54 stocks on the BIST 100 rose, 34 fell, and 12 were flat compared with Tuesday's close.
Among all sectors, the BIST banking index was the best performer of the day — up 3.46 percent –, the mining sector recorded the worst, as its index fell 6.44 percent.
The top gainer stocks of the day belonged to fertilizer provider Gubretas, rising 11.46 percent, and the shares of casting producer Cemas Dokum (CEMAS) fell most, declining 9.84 percent.
The BIST 100's trade volume leaders on Wednesday were national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, private lender Garanti, state-run lender Halkbank, leading petrochemicals producer Petkim and top defense company Aselsan.
The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate fell to 5.6950 as of 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT) Wednesday, compared with the previous close of 5.7780.
One euro traded for 6.5760 Turkish liras at close, down from 6.7010 at Tuesday's close.
By market close, the GBP/TRY exchange rate was 7.4850, versus 7.6440 at the previous close.
In Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets, one ounce of gold traded for $1,220.00 at Wednesday's close, down from Tuesday's close of $1,225.10.
As of 6 p.m. local time (1500GMT), the price of Brent oil stood at $79.53 per barrel, hovering between $79.89 and $81.86 during the day.
Since the beginning of this year, Brent oil price has risen from $66 per barrel.
