Borsa Istanbul up at close

Foreigners purchase over $2.1 billion at BIST between January and August

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index advanced 0.12 percent to close at 109,742.95 points on Thursday.

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index rose 131.16 points, up from closing at 109,611.79 points on Wednesday, with a 6.5 billion Turkish lira (around $1.9 billion) trade volume -- a relatively high level compared to recent weeks' trade volumes.

On Thursday, the BIST mining index performed the best with a 5.29 percent hike while the BIST banking index fell the most, going down 0.90 percent.

Shares of state lender Halkbank (HALKB) saw the biggest decline of the day -- down 4.90 percent -- while stocks of energy and mining company Ipek Dogal Enerji (IPEKE) increased the most, by 15.45 percent.

The BIST 100's most traded stocks were national flag carrier Turkish Airlines (THYAO), state lender Halkbank (HALKB), mining companies Koza Madencilik (KOZAA) and Ipek Dogal Enerji (IPEKE), followed by media giant and oil distributer Dogan Holding (DOHOL).

Since the beginning of this year, the BIST 100 has risen around 40 percent. The BIST 100 saw its highest peak at 110,530.75 points during trading hours on Monday, Aug. 28.

Meanwhile, foreign investors have made a net purchase worth over $2.1 billion in Turkey in the January-August this year.

Last month, the net purchases of foreign investors increased by 4.29 percent year-on-year to reach $280 million, according to data compiled by Anadolu Agency, using Borsa Istanbul's statistics.

- USD/TRY exchange rate

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate fell to 3.4130 by 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT) Thursday, compared with 3.4340 at Wednesday's close.

One dollar was exchanged for 3.51 on average last month, while the first eight months' average USD/TRY rate was 3.61.

According to Turkish Central Bank data, the dollar/lira rate was 3.02 on average last year and 2.71 on average in 2015.

The exchange rate saw sharp fluctuations after last year's defeated coup and climbed to its historic hike -- around 3.94 liras -- in mid-January this year.

Kaynak:

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