UPDATE Turkish stocks end Thursday up 0.41%

UPDATED WITH MORE DAILY FIGURES

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index ended the day up 0.41% to close at 96,249.13 points on Thursday.

Starting the day at 96,705.97 points, Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index rose 394.21 points from 95,854.92 points at the midweek close.

During Thursday trading, the BIST 100 hovered between 95,330.43 points and 97,064.94 points – 65 stocks on the index rose, 29 fell, and six were flat compared to the previous close.

Closing out the day with a market value of nearly 673.5 billion Turkish liras ($98.3 billion), the benchmark index posted a daily trading volume of 13.6 billion Turkish liras ($2 billion).

By market capitalization, Turkish conglomerate Koc Holding ($5.4 billion), private lenders Garanti BBVA ($5 billion), and major Turkish discount chain BIM Birlesik Magazalar ($4.8 billion) were the top companies on the BIST 100.

Shares of defense company Aselsan, Pegasus airlines, and national flag carrier Turkish Airlines saw the highest trading volumes, accounting for some 26% of the benchmark index's total trade volume.

Stocks of Deva Holding, a pharmaceutical company, were the top gainers with a 9.96% rise, while shares of Celebi Hava Servisi, which provides integrated ground services at airports, dropped the most, falling 9.98%.

An ounce of gold sold for $1,720.00 at the daily close in Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets, versus $1,712.00 at the previous close.

The price of Brent oil was $27.41 per barrel as of 6 p.m. local time (1500GMT) on Thursday, with a day range of $27.36 to $29.

At the beginning of 2020, a barrel of Brent oil sold for around $66.