Turkish stocks up at close, lira hits 4-month high

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA

Turkey's benchmark stock index surged 1.12 percent to close at 95,125.57 points on Thursday, as Turkish lira hit a 4-month high against the U.S. dollar.

Starting the day at 94,963.22 points, Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index climbed 1,054.61 points from Wednesday's close.

The BIST 100 peaked at 95,544.59 points while its daily low was 94,827.33 points on Thursday.

The benchmark index closed the day with a total market value of 618.6 billion Turkish liras ($117.8 billion) and a daily trading volume of 6.47 billion Turkish liras ($1.25 billion).

Highest trade volumes were recorded by private lender Garanti Bankasi, national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, and defense company Aselsan.

The leading listed companies by market value were Turkish conglomerate Koc Holding ($7.39 billion), Garanti Bankasi ($6.48 billion), and energy giant Tupras ($6 billion).

As of daily close, 62 stocks on the index rose, 28 fell, and 10 were flat compared to the previous close.

Stocks of casting producer Cemas Dokum were the top gainers, rising 18.97 percent, while shares of energy and construction company Isiklar Enerji Yapi Holding posted the biggest drop, going down 2.86 percent.

On Thursday, Turkish lira continued its upward against the U.S. dollar. By market close, the USD/TRY fell to 5.1620, versus 5.2610 at the previous close.

The exchange rate was around 5.15 on Aug. 6, while it saw its historic high at over 7.00 on Aug. 13.

The euro/lira exchange rate stood at 5.8830, down from Wednesday's close of 5.9360.

The British pound/Turkish lira rate also saw a steep decline, falling to 6.6050 compared with 6.7270 at close on Wednesday.

One ounce of gold was sold for $1,227.90 at daily close, as the price was $1,215.00 at the previous close of Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets.

The price of Brent oil was around $59.71 per barrel as of 6 p.m. local time (1500GMT) Thursday, hovering between $57.78 and $60.23 during the day.