Turkish stocks up at close

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index closed Wednesday up 0.42 percent at 104,725.74 points with a trade volume of around 7.6 billion Turkish liras ($1.8 billion).

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index ended the day with a 442.96-point hike from Monday's close of 104,282.78 points, while it opened the midweek trading day at 104,815.39 points with a 0.51 percent rise.

There were no transactions on Tuesday due to May 1, International Labor Day.

The USD/TRY exchange increased steeply to 4.1770 as of 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT) Wednesday, versus 4.0440 at Monday's close.

The euro/lira exchange rate also rose to 5.0020 by market close, up from 4.8870 at the previous close, while the British pound/lira exchange rate stood at 5.6900, compared with 5.6000 at Monday's close.

The BIST Gold Exchange index fell by 0.15 percent at close. In Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets, one ounce of gold traded for $1,308.00 as of 4.30 p.m. local time (1330GMT) Wednesday, compared with $1,310.00 at Monday's close.

As of 6 p.m. local time (1500GMT), the price of Brent oil stood at $72.95 per barrel -- hovering between $72.53 and $73.63 during Wednesday -- climbing from around $66 at the beginning of this year.