UPDATE - Turkey's Borsa Istanbul closes day with 2-month high

ADDS MORE FIGURES

By Aysu Bicer

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index closed at 1,461.69 points on Tuesday, rising 0.44% from the previous close to a two-month peak.

After starting at 1,454.14 points, Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index gained 6.44 points from Monday's close of 1,455.25 points.

The index's lowest value during the session was 1,449.58, while its daily high was 1,456.79.

The total market value of the BIST 100 was 1 trillion Turkish liras ($129 billion) by market close, with a daily trading volume of 15.2 billion Turkish liras (nearly $2 billion).

A total of 34 stocks rose, 58 fell and the remaining were unchanged compared to Monday's close.

The highest trading volumes were posted by private lender Garanti BBVA, iron and steel producer Kardemir and petrochemical giant Petkim.

Pharmaceutical firm Eczacibasi was the best performer with shares up 7.35% while stocks of conglomerate did the worst -- falling 3.33%.

An ounce of gold traded for $1,792.00 by market close, up from $1,777.35 at the previous close, according to data from Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets.

Brent crude oil was around $69.86 per barrel as of 6.31 p.m. (1531GMT).