Turkish stocks end day with gains

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index rose 1.43 percent to close Wednesday at 100,780.57 points with a trading volume of around 7.1 billion Turkish liras ($1.66 billion).

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index ended the day with a 1,416.78-point hike from Tuesday's close of 99,363.79 points, while it opened the midweek trading day at 98,727.15 points.

The USD/TRY exchange fell to 4.2690 as of 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT) Wednesday, down from 4.2980 at Tuesday's close.

The euro/lira exchange rate stood at 5.0710 by market close, versus 5.0960 at the previous close, while the British pound/lira exchange rate was flat at 5.8130, compared with 5.8140 at Tuesday's close.

The BIST Gold Exchange index ended the day with a 0.04 percent rise. In Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets, one ounce of gold traded for $1,312.00 as of 4.30 p.m. local time (1330GMT) Wednesday, compared with $1,311.50 at Tuesday's close.

As of 6 p.m. local time (1500GMT), the price of Brent oil stood at $76.85 per barrel -- hovering between $75.97 and $77.42 during the course of Wednesday -- up from around $66 at the beginning of 2018.