UPDATE - Turkey's Borsa Istanbul up at close

UPDATES WITH MORE DAILY FIGURES

By Jeyhun Aliyev

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index rose 0.85 percent to close at 96,973.85 points Wednesday with a trading volume of around 7.7 billion Turkish liras ($1.46 billion).

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index ended the day with a 812.82 point hike from Tuesday's close of 96,161.04 points, while it opened the midweek trading day at 96,327.25 points.

The benchmark index hovered between 95,969.57 points and 97,260.43 points, while 63 stocks on the index were on the rise, 29 on the decline, and eight flat compared to the previous close.

The total market value of listed shares on the BIST 100 was around 635.07 billion Turkish liras ($120.66 billion) at close, while the banking and holding sector indices gained 1.34 percent and 1.54 percent, respectively.

Among all sectors, the mining sector index was the best performer, rising 2.08 percent, and the insurance sector index saw the biggest drop, losing 0.78 percent.

Shares of conglomerate Metro Holding (METRO) climbed the most, up 17.02 percent, while stocks of real estate investment trust Ozderici (OZGYO) did the worst, falling 6.31 percent.

The BIST 100's most-traded listed companies were national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, iron/steel producer Kardemir, private lender Garanti, state lender Halkbank, and defense company Aselsan.

The USD/TRY exchange fell slightly to 5.2840 as of 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT), down from 5.2880 at Tuesday's close.

The euro/lira exchange rate dropped to 6.1270 by market close, versus 6.1340 at the previous close, while the British pound/lira exchange rate was down at 6.8060, compared with 6.8620 at Tuesday's close.

In Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets, one ounce of gold traded for $1,209.70 as of 4.30 p.m. local time (1330GMT) Wednesday, down from $1,214.30 at the previous close.

As of 6 p.m. local time (1500GMT), the price of Brent oil stood at $72.84 per barrel -- hovering between $72.75 and $74.486 during the course of the day -- up from around $66 at the beginning of 2018.