Turkey's benchmark stock index up at close

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index closed Tuesday up 2.01 percent to stand at 114,418.36 points with a trade volume of 8.4 billion Turkish liras ($2.2 billion).

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index climbed 2,259.16 points, up from Monday's close at 112,159.21 points, while the banking and holding sectors indices rose by 2.80 and 1.34 percent, respectively.

Among all sectors, the BIST transportation index performed the best on Tuesday with a 5.18 percent hike while the BIST food beverage index was down 0.36 percent -- the only sector that closed the day with a fall.

Stocks of automotive manufacturer Karsan Otomotiv were the top gainers of the day -- up 12.63 percent. Shares of Hurriyet Gazetecilik, one of Turkey's bestselling daily newspapers, dropped the most, falling by 2.63 percent.

The top five most-traded stocks were the national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, Karsan Otomotiv, iron and steel producer Kardemir, private lender Garanti and electronics appliances producer Vestel Elektronik.

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate stood at 3.7860 as of 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT) on Tuesday, compared to Monday's close at 3.7850.

The euro/lira exchange rate fell to 4.6220 on Tuesday, down from 4.6520 at Monday's close.

The BIST Gold Exchange index lost 0.29 percent in value, while the price of gold per kilogram was stable at 163,300 Turkish liras (around $43,070) as of 4.30 p.m. local time (1330GMT), no change compared to Monday.

As of 5.45 p.m. local time (1445GMT) Tuesday, the price of Brent oil was $69.57 per barrel, versus $69.88 at the previous close.