ISTANBUL

Turkey's benchmark stock index climbed 1.44% to close at 98,203.20 points on Wednesday.

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index started the day at 97,347.38 points, gaining 1,394.20 points from the previous close of 96,809 points.

During Wednesday's trading, the BIST 100's daily low was 97,297.72 points while it peaked at 98,661.99 points -- 66 stocks on the index rose, 24 fell, and 10 were flat compared to the previous close.

The index closed the day with a market value of nearly 649.16 billion liras ($112.1 billion), and posted a daily trading volume of 6.5 billion Turkish liras ($1.13 billion).

Wednesday's highest trading volumes were recorded by private lender Garanti Bankasi, national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, and petrochemical producer Petkim.

By market capitalization, Turkish conglomerate Koc Holding ($7.5 billion), Garanti Bankasi ($6.4 billion), and another private lender Akbank ($5.9 billion) were the top listed companies.

Stocks of conglomerate GSD Holding (GSDHO) were the top gainers, up 6.52%, and shares of real estate investment trust Ihlas Gayrimenkul (IHLGM) were the worst, down 3.49%.

In Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets, the price of one ounce of gold reached $1,278.00 by market close, down from 1,284.45 at the previous close.

The price of Brent crude oil was around $71.65 per barrel as of 6 p.m. (1500GMT) Wednesday.