UPDATE – Turkish stocks up at Wednesday close

UPDATE WITH MORE DAILY FIGURE

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) – Turkey's benchmark stock index ended Wednesday at 1,420.00 points, up 0.26% compared to the previous close.

After starting the day at 1,420.82 points, Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index rose 3.7 points from 1,401.52 points at Tuesday's close.

During Wednesday's trading, the BIST 100 hovered between 1,409.33 points and 1,425.04 points, with 52 stocks on the index rising, 43 down, and five flat compared to the previous close.

Closing the day with a market value of around 1 trillion Turkish liras ($121.3 billion), the benchmark index posted a daily trading volume of 15.6 billion liras ($1.9 billion).

Shares of iron and steel manufacturer Eregli Demir Celik, private lender Garanti BBVA, and gold miner Koza Altin recorded the highest trading volumes.

Stocks of cement producer Cimsa climbed the most with an 8.32% hike, while shares of major cardboard producer Kartonsan dropped the most, falling 3.57%.

One ounce of gold sold for $1,779.00 by market close, down from $1,781.75, according to data from Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets.

The price of Brent oil was around $69.50 per barrel as of 6.00 p.m. local time (1500GMT) on Wednesday.