UPDATE - Turkish stocks surge 4.5% at Thursday's close

UPDATE WITH MORE DAILY FIGURES

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index ended Thursday up 4.53% to close at 117,990.45 points, the highest close since March 2018.

Starting the day at 115,236.49 points, Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index gained 5,114.39 points from the midweek close at 112,876.05 points.

During Thursday's trading, the BIST 100 hovered between 115,236.49 points and 118,144.62 points -- 99 stocks on the index rose, and one fell compared to the previous close.

Closing the day with a market value of nearly 807.5 billion Turkish liras ($135.6 billion), the benchmark index posted a daily trading volume of 16.4 billion Turkish liras ($2.8 billion).

By market capitalization, Turkish conglomerate Koc Holding ($8.83 billion), private lenders Garanti BBVA ($7.54 billion) and Akbank ($7.55 billion) were the top companies of BIST 100.

Shares of national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, petrochemicals producer Petkim and energy firm Odas Elektrik recorded the highest trading volumes.

Stocks of Odas Elektrik were the top gainers with a 20% hike, while shares of gold miner Koza Altin fell 0.13%.

An ounce of gold sold for $1,548.00 at the daily close in Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets, versus $1,538.80 at the previous close.

The price of Brent oil was $65.14 per barrel as of 6 p.m. local time (1500GMT) on Thursday, with a day range of $65.06 to $66.09.