Turkish shares flat but lira recovers against dollar

By Bahattin Gonultas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkish shares closed nearly flat on Thursday amid a military operation in Syria and Iraq against Daesh militants, but the lira recovered against the U.S. dollar.

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100, the country’s benchmark index, closed up 0.05 percent (42.56 points) at 79,252.41 as the Turkish Central Bank on Thursday maintained its interest rates following recent reductions in the last seven months.

On the fourth trading day of the week, the financial sector index rose about 0.01 percent and the service sector and technology sector indexes were also up 0.60 percent and 0.09 percent, respectively.

Borsa Istanbul's most actively traded stocks were those of private lender Garanti Bank, national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, state lender Halkbank, cement maker Afyon Cimento and sports club Besiktas

Sports club Besiktas saw its value increase 5.62 percent, or 0.24 points, after the football club defeated Napoli 3-2 in a Champions League group stage game on Wednesday night.

- Gold price down, lira up

The Borsa Istanbul Gold Exchange index declined by 0.02 percent in value Thursday from Wednesday's closing, with gold trading at 125,200 Turkish liras per kilogram.

The lira was positive, strengthening against the dollar at 3.0550 compared with the previous close at 3.0745.

Turkey’s Central Bank maintained the overnight lending rate, which is the rate at which banks borrow from the Central Bank overnight, at 8.25

The bank also kept the one-week repo rate at 7.50 percent while the borrowing rate will remain at 7.25 percent, in line with expectations.

After the central bank decision, the Turkish lira recovered against the U.S. dollar by 0.70 percent.