Turkish stocks up at midweek close

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index went up 0.10 percent to close at 118,950.76 points on Wednesday, with a total trade volume of 5.98 billion Turkish liras ($1.57 billion).

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index rose 119.16 points, up from Tuesday's close at 118,831.60 points. During the trading sessions, the BIST 100 hovered between 118,314.32 points and 119,245.29 points.

Among all sectors, the leasing factoring sector was the best performer, increasing by 10.41 percent, while the BIST mining index fell the most with a 1.45 percent down.

At the midweek close, the BIST banking index dropped by 0.42 percent -- seven stocks were up, five shares fell, and one stock was flat among all listed lenders. The BIST holding index closed the day down 0.48 percent while 15 shares were up, 16 stocks were down and five shares were flat among all conglomerates.

Stocks of Yesil Yatirim Holding (YESIL) suffered the largest decline -- down 18.47 percent -- and shares of another conglomerate Bera Holding (BERA) were the top gainer, climbing 13.92 percent.

The top five companies with the most-traded stocks were national flag-carrier Turkish Airlines, private lender Garanti, real estate investment trust Emlak Konut, leading petrochemicals producer Petkim and iron/steel producer Eregli.

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate climbed to 3.8010 as of 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT) Wednesday, up from Tuesday's close at 3.7900.

However, the EUR/TRY exchange rate fell to 4.6460 by market close. One euro traded for 4.6600 liras at the market close on Tuesday.

The BIST Gold Exchange index fell 0.91 percent, while the price of gold per kilogram was 161,350 Turkish liras ($42,462) as of 4.30 p.m. local time (1330GMT), down from 162,250 Turkish liras ($42,790) on Tuesday.

As of 7.20 p.m. local time (1620GMT), the price of Brent oil stood at $65.19, hovering between $65.14 and $66.80 during the day.