Turkey's benchmark stock index up at close

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index surged 0.90 percent to close at 110,235.41 points on Thursday with a total trade volume of around 7.4 billion Turkish liras ($1.8 billion).

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index ended the day with a 982.21-point hike from Wednesday's close of 109,253.20 points, while it opened the day at 109,211.46 points.

The USD/TRY exchange fell to 4.0910 as of 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT) Thursday, versus its previous close of 4.1480.

The euro/lira exchange rate also declined steeply to 5.0390 by market close -- down from 5.1370 at Wednesday's close -- and one British pound traded for 5.8220 Turkish liras while the GBP/TRY rate was 5.9090 at the previous close.

The BIST Gold Exchange index fell by 0.37 percent at daily close. In the Precious Metals and Diamond Markets of Borsa Istanbul, one ounce of gold traded for $1,347.00 as of 4.30 p.m. local time (1330GMT) Thursday, while it was $1,352.00 at the previous close.

As of 6 p.m. local time (1500GMT), the price of Brent oil stood at $71.28 per barrel, hovering between $71.11 and $72.48 during the day.