Turkey's Borsa Istanbul ends day with gains

Turkey's benchmark stock index closed Wednesday at 96,603.75 points, a rise of 1.81 percent.

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index climbed 1,716.88 points from Tuesday's close of 94,886.87 points, while it started the midweek business day at 95,480.32 points.

The market value of listed shares on the BIST 100 totalled 633.8 billion Turkish liras ($99.6 billion), while the trade volume of the benchmark index was 8.4 billion Turkish liras ($1.33 billion).

During the midweek trading, the benchmark index hovered between 95,272.19 points and 96,722.73 points, while 66 stocks on the BIST 100 rose, 27 fell, and seven were flat compared with Tuesday's close.

Among all sectors, the BIST banking index was the best performer of the day -- up 6.38 percent --, the wholesale and retail trade sector recorded the worst, as its index fell 1.13 percent.

The top gainer stocks of the day belonged to Turkish Industrial Development Bank (TSKB), rising 7.69 percent, and the shares of major cardboard producer Kartonsan (KARTN) fell most, declining 5.04 percent.

The BIST 100's trade volume leaders on Wednesday were private lender Garanti Bankasi, national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, leading petrochemicals producer Petkim, top defense company Aselsan and another private lender Akbank.

Turkish conglomerate Koc Holding retained the top market value on the BIST 100 with some $6.55 billion as of daily close, followed by iron and steel producer Eregli Demir Celik and energy giant Tupras, with market values of $6.13 billion and $5.14 billion, respectively.

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate fell to 6.2540 as of 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT) Wednesday, compared with the previous close of 6.3740.

One euro traded for 7.2970 Turkish liras at close, down from 7.4590 at Tuesday's close.

By market close, the GBP/TRY exchange rate was 8.2280, versus 8.4100 at the previous close.

In Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets, one ounce of gold traded for $1,203.00 at Wednesday's close, up from Tuesday's close of $1,201.50.

As of 6 p.m. local time (1500GMT), the price of Brent oil stood at $79.19 per barrel, hovering between $78.52 and $79.40 during the day. Since the beginning of this year, Brent oil price has risen from $66 per barrel.