Borsa Istanbul starts week looking up

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index opened at 1,451.33 points on Monday, up 0.25% or 3.69 points from the previous close.

At last week's close, Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index was up 0.22% to 1,447.64 points, with a daily trading volume of 11.9 billion Turkish liras ($1.39 billion).

The US dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate stood at 8.5020 as of 9.30 a.m. local time (0630GMT), versus 8.5400 at the previous close.

The euro/Turkish lira exchange rate dropped slightly to 10.0270 from 10.0600, while a British pound traded for 11.8080 Turkish liras, down from 11.8530.

One barrel of Brent crude oil was sold for around $69.70 as of 10 a.m. local time (0700GMT).