By Muhammed Ali Gurtas 

ANKARA 

Turkey's benchmark stock index rose 1.43 percent to close Wednesday at 100,780.57 points with a trading volume of around 7.1 billion Turkish liras ($1.66 billion). 

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index ended the day with a 1,416.78-point hike from Tuesday's close of 99,363.79 points, while it opened the midweek trading day at 98,727.15 points. 

During the sessions, the benchmark index saw the lowest level at 97,849.20 points and the highest at 101,647.29 points, while 52 stocks on the index were on the rise, 43 on the decline, and five flat compared with the previous close.

The total market value of listed shares on the BIST 100 was 627.3 billion Turkish liras ($146.5 billion) at the close, while the banking and holding sector indices closed the day up 2.65 and 0.35 percent, respectively. 

Among all sectors, the BIST mining index showed the best performance -- up 3.85 percent -- and the leasing factoring sector index fell the most, going down 2.02 percent. 

Stocks of private lender ICBC Turkey Bank (ICBCT) were the top gainer with a 9.39 percent gain, and shares of energy and construction company Isiklar Enerji Yapi Holding (IEYHO) posted the worst performance with a 12.90 percent drop. 

The BIST 100's most-traded listed companies were national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, private lender Garanti Bankasi, iron and steel producer Kardemir, followed by state lender Halkbank and another private lender Akbank.

The USD/TRY exchange fell to 4.2690 as of 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT) Wednesday, down from 4.2980 at Tuesday's close. 

The euro/lira exchange rate stood at 5.0710 by market close, versus 5.0960 at the previous close, while the British pound/lira exchange rate was flat at 5.8130, compared with 5.8140 at Tuesday's close.

The BIST Gold Exchange index ended the day with a 0.04 percent rise. In Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets, one ounce of gold traded for $1,312.00 as of 4.30 p.m. local time (1330GMT) Wednesday, compared with $1,311.50 at Tuesday's close.

As of 6 p.m. local time (1500GMT), the price of Brent oil stood at $76.85 per barrel -- hovering between $75.97 and $77.42 during the course of Wednesday -- up from around $66 at the beginning of 2018.