UPDATE WITH MORE DAILY FIGURES
By Jeyhun Aliyev
ANKARA (AA) – Turkey's benchmark stock index rose by 1.92 percent to 99,097.00 points — the highest close since the June 5 — with a trading volume of around 7.8 billion Turkish liras (nearly $1.7 billion) in the closing session on Thursday.
Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index ended the day with a 1,866.93-point increase from the Wednesday's close of 97,230.07 points, while it opened the day at 97,559.72 points, up 0.34 percent.
The benchmark index hovered between 97,559.72 points and 99,264.80 points, while 92 stocks on the index were on the rise, 5 on the decline, and three flat compared to the previous close.
The total market value of listed shares on the BIST 100 was 654.1 billion liras ($139.2 billion) at the close, while the banking and holding sector indices gained 1.62 percent and 0.98 percent, respectively.
While all sectors were on rise, the mining sector index saw the best performance, going up 3.53 percent.
Stocks of events organizer Flap Kongre Toplanti Hizmetleri were the top gainer — rising 19.90 percent — and shares of the real estate investment trust Sinpas saw the biggest drop of the day, down 1.56 percent.
The BIST 100's most-traded listed companies were national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, defense company Aselsan, private lender Garanti, iron and steel producer Kardemir, and the country's largest petrochemicals producer Petkim.
The USD/TRY exchange rate dropped to 4.6110 as of 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT) Thursday, compared with 4.6770 at Wednesday's close.
The euro/lira exchange rate also fell to 5.4000 by market close, versus 5.4500 at the previous close, and one British pound traded for 6.1120 Turkish liras, compared with 6.1940 at Wednesday's close.
In Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets, one ounce of gold traded for $1,256.50 as of 4.30 p.m. local time (1330GMT) Thursday, versus $1,255.30 at previous close.
The price of Brent oil rose to $78.09 per barrel as of 6 p.m. (1500GMT) Thursday, from $77.73 on Wednesday's close.
