Turkey's benchmark stock index ends day with gains

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA

Turkey's benchmark stock index closed Tuesday up 1.50 percent at 94,436.87 points with a total trading volume of around 6.4 billion Turkish liras ($1.3 billion).

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index ended the day with a 1,393.59-point hike from Monday's close at 93,043.28 points, while it started the second day of the week at 92,597.62 points.

The benchmark index saw the lowest level at 92,288.59 points and the highest at 94,743.17 points, while 70 stocks on the index were on the rise, 25 fell, and five were flat compared to the previous close.

The total market value of listed shares on the BIST 100 was 602.4 billion Turkish liras ($127.7 billion) at the close, while the banking and holding sector indices closed the day up 1.78 and 1.17 percent, respectively.

Among all sectors, the BIST insurance index fell the most with a 0.93 percent drop, and the BIST basic metal index saw the best performance, going up 3.73 percent.

Shares of poultry and feed producer Banvit (BANVT) were the best performer on Tuesday -- up 9.16 percent -- while stocks of iron and steel producer Kardemir (KRDMD) ended the day with the biggest drop, declining 3.72 percent.

The BIST 100's most-traded listed companies were major defense company Aselsan, national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, private lender Garanti, the country's largest petrochemicals producer Petkim, prominent polyester producer Sasa.

On Tuesday, the USD/TRY exchange rose to 4.7500 as of 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT), up from 4.7190 at Monday's close.

The euro/lira exchange rate was 5.4970 by market close, versus 5.4800 at Monday's close, and one British pound traded for 6.2710 Turkish liras, while the GBP/TRY rate was 6.2630 at the previous close.

The BIST Gold Exchange index fell 0.45 percent at the close. In Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets, one ounce of gold traded for $1,272.20 as of 4.30 p.m. local time (1330GMT) Tuesday, versus $1,278.00 at previous close.

As of 6.50 p.m. local time (1550GMT), the price of Brent oil stood at $74.95 per barrel -- hovering between $74.47 and $75.54 during the day -- while it was around $66 at the beginning of this year.