Turkish stocks end day with gains

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index closed Monday up 0.26 percent at 96,773.49 points with a total trading volume of around 6.4 billion Turkish liras ($1.4 billion).

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index ended the day with a 253.42-point hike from Friday's close at 96,520.07 points, while it started the week at 99,094.44 points.

In June, the benchmark index recorded a 2.6 percent fall on a monthly basis, while it has fallen nearly 18 percent since the beginning of this year.

On Monday, the USD/TRY exchange was 4.6230 as of 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT), up from last week's close at 4.5890.

The euro/lira exchange rate stood at 5.3700 by market close, versus 5.3410 at Friday's close, and one British pound traded for 6.0550 Turkish liras, while the GBP/TRY rate was 6.0400 at the previous close.

As of 6 p.m. local time (1500GMT), the price of Brent oil stood at $77.75 per barrel -- hovering between $77.60 and $78.95 during the day -- while it was around $66 at the beginning of this year.