Turkish shares hits record-high at close

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA

Turkey's benchmark stock index posted its highest-ever close at 114,480.45 points on Thursday

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index jumped 2.08 percent or 2,330.74 points from Wednesday's close with a 5.4-billion-Turkish lira ($1.43 billion) trading volume.

The banking and holding sector indices rose 3.13 and 1.90 percent, respectively.

Among all sectors, the banking index performed the best, while the mining index fell the most, down 0.47 percent.

Shares of Anadolu Cam (ANACM), operating under one of the world's major glass manufacturers -- Turkey's Sisecam -- were the top gainers of the day, rising 5.76 percent. Stocks of prominent polyester producer Sasa Polyester (SASA) suffered the biggest drop of the day, losing 3.29 percent.

Thursday's top shares with the highest trade volume in the BIST 100 were national flag carrier Turkish Airlines (THYAO), iron and steel producer Karabuk Kardemir (KRDMD), Sasa Polyester (SASA), state lender Halkbank (HALKB), and private lender Garanti (GARAN).

The Turkish lira gained value against the U.S. dollar and the euro after the U.S. Embassy in Ankara announced full resumption of visa services for Turkish citizens on Thursday.

The dollar/lira exchange rate dropped 1 percent to its lowest level in two months at 3.7770 as of 5.30 p.m. local time (1430GMT), down from 3.8240 at Wednesday's close.

One euro traded for 4.5170 liras by local market close, down 0.50 percent from Wednesday's closing EUR/TRY exchange rate of 4.5510.

The BIST Gold Exchange index closed the day up 0.40 percent, while the price of gold per kilogram was 158,200 Turkish liras ($41,879) as of 4.30 p.m. local time (1330GMT), up from the previous closing price of 158,060 Turkish liras ($41,334).

The price of Brent oil rose to $66.05 per barrel as of 5.45 p.m. local time (1445GMT) Thursday, compared with Wednesday's close at $65.99.