By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA

Turkey's benchmark stock index went up 0.16 percent or 168.55 points to open at 102,752.81 points on Thursday.

On Wednesday, Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index rose 0.13 percent to close the day at 102,584.26 points with a daily trading volume of 7 billion Turkish liras ($1.34 billion).

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate stood at 5.2280 as of 9.30 a.m. local time (0630GMT) Thursday, compared to 5.2100 at the last close.

The euro/lira exchange rate was 5.9510, versus 5.9390 at the previous close. One British pound was exchanged for 6.7780 Turkish liras, as the GBP/TRY was 6.7630 by market close on Wednesday.

The price of Brent oil was around $62.35 per barrel as of 9.50 a.m. local time (0650GMT) Thursday.