Turkey's Borsa Istanbul closes week up over 2 pct

By Gokhan Ergocun

ANKARA

Turkey's benchmark stock index rose 2.04 percent to reach 103,200.08 points with a trading volume of around 7 billion Turkish liras ($1.49 billion) at the closing session on Friday.

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index ended the day with a 2,062-point rise from the previous close of 101,138.08 points, while it opened the day at 101,786.20 points, up 0.64 percent.

The benchmark index hovered between 101,321.60 points and 103,349.20 points, while 84 stocks on the index were on the rise, nine on the decline, and seven flat compared to the previous close.

The banking and holding sector indices rose 2.12 percent and 1.84 percent, respectively.

Among all sectors, the transportation sector index was the best performer, rising 5.93 percent, and the leasing factoring sector index saw the biggest drop, losing 16.51 percent.

Stocks of carrier Pegasus Airlines climbed the most, up 7.63 percent, while shares of health group MLPCare were the worst, falling 3.37 percent.

The BIST 100's most-traded listed companies were national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, private lender Garanti, iron/steel producer Kardemir, petro-chemical company Petkim, and gold company Koza.

The USD/TRY exchange rate dropped to 4.7210 as of 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT) Friday, compared with 4.7580 at Thursday's close. Earlier this week it had hit an all-time high, 4.93.

The euro/lira exchange rate also fell to 5.5000 by market close, versus 5.5870 at the previous close, and one British pound was traded for 6.3000 Turkish liras, compared with 6.3930 at Thursday's close.

The BIST Gold Exchange index gained 0.06 percent in value at the close. In Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets, one ounce of gold traded for $1,300.00 as of 4.30 p.m. local time (1330GMT) Friday, compared with $1,299.20 at the previous close.

The price of Brent oil rose over 3 percent to $76.81 per barrel as of 1500GMT Friday, from $79.16 at the previous close. Over the last week, it topped the $80 level for the first time since October 2014. It was over $110 in the first half of 2014 and around $60 by the end of 2014. It was at its lowest level at the beginning of 2016, at $34.70.

The capacity utilization rate of Turkey’s manufacturing industry rose 0.6 percentage points to 77.9 percent in May, the Central Bank announced on Friday.