Turkish stocks up 2.37% at Friday opening

By Aysu Bicer

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index went up 2.37%, or 2,021.75 points, on Friday to start the day at 87,217.14 points.

At Thursday's close, Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index was down 0.45% at 85,195.39 points, with a daily trading volume of 7.7 billion Turkish liras ($1.1 billion).

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate dropped to 6.4970 as of 9.30 a.m. local time (0630GMT) on Friday, versus 6.5360 at the previous close.

The euro/Turkish lira exchange rate stood at 7.000, compared to 7.0620, and one British pound traded for 7.6110 Turkish liras. It was 7.6240 at the Thursday's close.

One barrel of Brent crude oil sold for around $29.46 as of 10 a.m. local time (0700GMT) on Friday.