Turkish stocks up 2.80% at close

By Aysu Bicer

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index closed the day at 95,834.44 points on Thursday, rising 2.80% from the previous close.

After starting the day at 94,275.35 points, Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index increased 2,609.22 points from 93,225.22 points at Wednesday's close.

On Thursday, the BIST 100 hovered between 93,942.75 points and 94,780.39 points -- 87 stocks on the index rose, 10 fell, and three were flat compared to the previous close.

Closing the day with a market value of some 662 billion Turkish liras ($97 billion), the benchmark index posted a daily trading volume of 15.1 billion Turkish liras ($2.2 billion).

Shares of pharmaceuticals company Eczacibasi, defense giant Aselsan, and private lender Garanti BBVA saw the highest trading volumes on Thursday.

Stocks of conglomerate performed the best, rising 9.46%, while shares of car manufacturer Ford Otosan did the worst with a 1.97% drop.

The price of one ounce of gold was $1,661.00 by market close, up from $1,648.00 at the previous close, according to data from Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets.

The price of Brent crude oil was around $35.84 per barrel as of 6 p.m. (1500GMT) on Thursday.