ANKARA

Turkiye's benchmark stock index Borsa Istanbul ended with strong gains on Thursday, hitting a new record high close of 2,345.20.

Starting the day at 2,329.06 points, the BIST 100 index jumped 1.24% or 28.80 points from Wednesday's close of 2,316.40 points.

During Thursday's trading, the BIST 100 hovered between 2,329.06 and 2,350.80 points, as 77 stocks rose, 20 fell and three were flat compared to the previous close.

Closing the day with a market value of around 1.9 trillion Turkish liras ($130 billion), the benchmark index posted a daily trading volume of 39.7 billion Turkish liras ($2.7 billion).

Shares of national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, private lender Garanti BBVA and iron/steel producer Kardemir posted the highest trading volumes on Thursday.

Real estate investment trust ISGYO posted the largest gain, with its shares up 10%, while energy company Ipek Dogal Enerji (IPEKE) suffered the most, going down 3.05%.

An ounce of gold traded for $1,940.00 by market close, rising from $1,927.45 at the previous close, according to data from Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets.

The price of Brent crude oil fell to $100.18 per barrel as of 6.20 p.m. local time (1520GMT) on Thursday, down 0.88% from the previous close.