Turkey's benchmark stock index up at midweek close

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index closed Wednesday up 0.11 percent to stand at 116,842.44 points with a 5.42 billion Turkish lira ($1.43 billion) trade volume.

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index rose 132.51 points, up from the previous close at 116,709.93 points. During the midweek trading sessions, the BIST 100 hovered between 115,929.73 points and 116,985.40 points.

On a daily basis, 46 shares in the BIST 100 were up, 47 were down, and seven were flat compared to Tuesday's close. Among all sectors, the BIST food beverage index was the top gainer, adding 2.36 percent, and the BIST basic metal index saw the largest decline, losing 1.45 percent.

The BIST banking index closed Wednesday with a 0.44 percent climb -- seven stocks were up and six shares fell among all listed lenders -- while the BIST holding index ended the day flat with a 0.02 percent fall.

Shares of Anadolu Cam (ANACM), operating under one of the world's major glass manufacturers -- Turkey's Sisecam -- saw the best performance of the day, up 7.56 percent, while stocks of private lender ICBC Turkey Bank (ICBCT) saw the biggest drop, declining 3.66 percent.

The BIST 100's most traded listed companies were national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, private lender Garanti, iron and steel producer Kardemir, gold mining firm Koza Altin, and leading petrochemicals producer Petkim.

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate stood at 3.7960 as of 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT) on Wednesday, versus 3.7900 at Tuesday's close.

One euro traded for 4.7160 liras by market close, while the EUR/TRY exchange rate was 4.7030 at the previous close.

The BIST Gold Exchange index was also up, gaining 0.38 percent with the price of gold per kilogram climbing to 162,500 Turkish liras ($42,807) as of 4.30 p.m. local time (1330GMT), compared to 161,900 Turkish liras (around $42,718) on Tuesday.

As of 6.50 p.m. local time (1550GMT), the price of Brent oil stood at $65.51 per barrel -- hovering between $64.89 per barrel and $65.78 per barrel during the day.