Turkey's Borsa Istanbul up nearly 1.5 pct at close

By Gokhan

ISTANBUL

Turkey's benchmark stock index climbed 1.47 percent to close at 96,817.36 points on Thursday.

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index started the day at 95,499.76 points, gaining 1,405.87 points from Wednesday's close of 95,411.49 points.

The benchmark index hovered between 95,161.25 and 97,354.93 points, during Thursday's trading.

The total market value of the BIST 100 was around 626.4 billion Turkish liras ($115.9 billion) by market close and the daily trade volume was 9.4 billion Turkish liras ($1.75 billion).

On Thursday, 72 stocks on the index were on the rise, while 26 were on the decline, and two were flat compared to the previous close.

The top listed companies were Turkish conglomerate Koc Holding ($7.4 billion), and private lenders Garanti ($7.2 billion) and Akbank ($6.4 billion) by market value.

The highest trading volumes were posted by national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, Garanti, and Akbank.

Shares of conglomerate Bera were the top gainers -- up 19.55 percent -- and holding Verusa fell down most by 7.65 percent.

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate was 5.3750 at , up from Wednesday's close of 5.3630.

The euro/lira rate increased at close to 6.1360 versus 6.1170 at the previous close.

One British pound traded for 6.9600 Turkish liras, while the GBP/TRY rate was 6.9220 at close on Wednesday.

In Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets, the price of one ounce of gold was around $1,295.25 by market close, up from $1,290.30 the previous day.

The price of Brent crude oil stood at around $60.70 per barrel as of 6 p.m. (1500GMT) Thursday, versus $60.81 at the previous close.