Turkish shares end higher at close of Borsa Istanbul

ANKARA (AA) - Turkish shares ended higher Thursday with gains in the banking and mining sectors.

Borsa Istanbul's BIST-100, the country’s benchmark index, traded 0.50 percent (377.15 points) up to close at 75,136.22.

On the fourth trading day of the week, the mining sector index was up 4.48 percent and the banking sector index was also up 0.46 percent while the insurance sector index fell 1.43 percent.

The insurance sector index, on the other hand, was down with a total trading volume of 3.6 billion Turkish liras ($1.07 billion).

The most heavily-traded stocks were private lenders Garanti Bank, Akbank, Turkish Airlines, state lender Halkbank.

Shares of the sports club Galatasaray, GSRAY, gained 12.41 percent in value, making it the top percent gainer, while Alcatel Lucent Teletas was the top percent loser, with its shares losing 2.63 percent in value.

The Borsa Istanbul Gold Exchange index rose 0.12 percent in value with gold trading at 131,300 Turkish liras per kilogram.

Meanwhile, Turkey's currency fell against the U.S. dollar, standing at over 3.34 compared to Wednesday's close of 3.3215 as the greenback remained firm against global currencies in overseas markets amid rising prospects for a rate hike by the U.S. Federal Reserve.