Turkey's Borsa Istanbul closes week on rise

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL

Turkey's benchmark stock index closed Friday up 0.34 percent at 93,616.45 points with a trading volume of around 5.4 billion Turkish liras (around $1 billion).

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index ended the day with a 319.61-point increase from Thursday's close of 93,296.84 points, while it opened the day at 93,785.90 points.

The benchmark index hovered between 92,743.88 points and 94,308.29 points, while 51 stocks on the index were on the rise, 34 on the decline, and 15 flat compared to the previous close.

The total market value of listed shares on the BIST 100 was around 607.8 billion Turkish liras ($112.2 billion) at close, while the banking and holding sector indices climbed 1.33 percent and 1.02 percent, respectively.

Among all sectors, the tourism sector index was the best performer, rising 4.36 percent, and the leasing factoring sector index saw the biggest drop, losing 4.23 percent.

Shares of energy company Odas Elektrik climbed the most, up 5.93 percent, while stocks of private lender ICBC Turkey Bank performed the worst, falling 6.20 percent.

The BIST 100's most-traded listed companies were national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, defense company Aselsan, private lender Garanti, state lender Halkbank, and iron/steel producer Kardemir.

The USD/TRY exchange rate dropped by 1.4 percent to 5.3410 as of 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT) Friday, compared with 5.4170 at Thursday's close.

The euro/lira exchange rate also decreased to 6.0930 by market close, versus 6.1290 at the previous close, while the British pound/lira exchange rate dropped to 6.8840 Turkish liras, compared with 6.9400 at Thursday's close.

In Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets, one ounce of gold traded for $1,215.85 as of 5.30 p.m. local time (1430GMT) Friday, up from $1,212.00 at the previous close.

As of 6 p.m. local time (1500GMT), the price of Brent oil rose by 1.7 percent to $68.06 per barrel compared with $66.92 at the end of Thursday.

Turkey's short-term external debt stock -- debt that must be paid in the next 12 months -- dropped by 1.5 percent from the end of 2017 to reach $116.8 billion in September, the Turkish Central Bank reported on Friday.