Turkish stocks go up at close

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index rose 1.59 percent to close Thursday at 102,380.68 points with a trading volume of around 6.8 billion Turkish liras ($1.6 billion).

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index ended the day with a 1,600.11-point hike from Wednesday's close of 100,780.57 points, while it opened the day at 101,236.81 points.

The USD/TRY exchange was 4.2480 as of 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT) Thursday, falling from 4.2690 at Wednesday's close.

The euro/lira exchange rate stood at 5.0670 by market close, compared with 5.0710 at the previous close, while the British pound/lira exchange rate was 5.7500, versus 5.8130 at Wednesday's close.

The BIST Gold Exchange index ended the day with a 0.39 percent rise. In Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets, one ounce of gold traded for $1,317.10 by market close, climbing from $1,312.00 at Wednesday's close.

As of 6 p.m. local time (1500GMT), the price of Brent oil stood at $76.91 per barrel -- hovering between $76.52 and $77.97 on Thursday -- up from around $66 at the beginning of 2018.