Borsa Istanbul hits 25-month high

ANKARA - Anadolu Agency

REUTERS photo

Turkey’s benchmark index was up 1,322.94 points to close at 91,044.99 on March 6, marking its highest level in just over two years.      

The BIST 100 index rose 1.47 percent with a total trading volume of 4 billion Turkish Liras (approximately $1.08 billion).      

On the first trading day of the week, the banking and holding indexes were up 1.75 and 2.25 percent, respectively.
      
Among all sector indexes, the leasing and factoring index was the best performer – up by 4.18 percent - while the sports sector was the worst, falling 0.86 percent.      

The most heavily-traded stocks were lenders Garanti and Halkbank, the national flag carrier Turkish Airlines and other lenders Yapı Kredi and Akbank.      

The U.S. dollar/Turkish Lira exchange rate hovered at around 3.7. One dollar was worth 3.71 liras late on March 6, compared to 3.7250 at Friday’s closing, after seeing a historic hike - over 3.9 liras - in mid-January.