Turkey's Borsa Istanbul ends day with gains

By Jeyhun Aliyev

ANKARA

Turkey's benchmark stock index went up 1.13 percent to close at 95,610.48 points with a trading volume of around 7.9 billion Turkish liras ($1.55 billion) in the closing session on Friday.

On the last transaction day of the week, Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index ended the day with a 1,067.21-point hike from Thursday's close of 94,543.27 points, while it started the day at 94,483.40 points.

The total market value of listed shares on the BIST 100 was around 629.9 billion Turkish liras ($124.7 billion) at the close, while the banking and holding sector indices gained 2.14 percent and 0.78 percent, respectively.

Among all sectors, the mining sector index was the best performer, rising 4.80 percent, and the chemical petrol plastic sector index saw the biggest drop, declining 1.49 percent.

Shares of real estate investment trust Ihlas Gayrimenkul climbed the most, up 7.91 percent, while stocks of petrochemical company Tupras suffered the worst, falling 4.92 percent.

One U.S. dollar traded for 5.0840 Turkish liras as of 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT), up from 5.0550 at Thursday's close.

The euro/lira exchange rate was 5.8920 by market close, versus 5.8850 at the previous close, and one British pound traded for 6.6180 Turkish liras, while the GBP/TRY rate was 6.6080 at Thursday's close.

In Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets, one ounce of gold traded for $1,214 as of 4.30 p.m. local time (1330GMT) Friday, stood unchanged compared to the previous close.

As of 6 p.m. local time (1500GMT), the price of Brent oil stood at $73.35 per barrel -- hovering between $73.08 and $73.73 during the day -- climbing from around $66 at the beginning of 2018.

Consumer prices in Turkey went up by 15.85 percent in July compared to the same month last year, the Turkish Statistical Institute announced on Friday. The July inflation figure was up from 15.39 percent in June, standing below expectations.