Turkey's Borsa Istanbul up nearly 1.6 pct at close

Turkey's benchmark stock index closed Monday at 99,547.44 points, up 1.59 percent from previous close.

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index climbs 1,559.28 points from last week's close of 97,988.16 points, while it started the first business day of the week at 98,284.19 points.

By market close, the benchmark index saw its highest close over the last four months, while the market value of listed shares on the BIST 100 totaled 651 billion Turkish liras (nearly $104 billion) with a trade volume of 10.7 billion Turkish liras ($1.7 billion).

During the sessions, the BIST 100 hovered between 97,781.97 points and 99,561.95 points, as 65 stocks on the index rose, 30 fell, and five were flat compared to the previous close.

Among all sectors, the BIST banking index was the top gainer of the day, rising 6.30 percent, while the BIST wholesale and retail trade index did the worst, falling 1.26 percent.

Shares of real estate investment trust Ozderici (OZGYO) showed the best performance -- up 13.68 percent -- and stocks of Ege Endustri (EGEEN), which manufactures components for the automotive industry, saw the biggest drop of the day, down 5.81 percent.

Monday's most traded listed companies were national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, private lender Garanti, leading defense company Aselsan, plus lenders Yapi Kredi and Akbank.

The BIST 100's market value leaders were Turkish conglomerate Koc Holding with some $6.92 billion, followed by iron and steel producer Eregli Demir Celik ($6.33 billion) and energy giant Tupras ($5.45 billion).

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate fell to 6.1590 as of 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT) Monday, compared with the previous close of 6.2920.

One euro traded for 7.2780 Turkish liras at close, versus 7.3930 at Friday's close. By market close, the GBP/TRY exchange rate was 8.1170, down from 8.2270 at the previous close.

In Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets, one ounce of gold traded for $1,200.00 at Monday's close, compared with $1,206.00 at last week's close.

As of 6 p.m. local time (1500GMT), the price of Brent oil stood at $80.03 per barrel, hovering between $79.06 and $80.31 during the day. Since the beginning of this year, Brent oil price has risen from $66 per barrel.