Turkey’s Borsa Istanbul hits second highest close ever

ANKARA - Anadolu Agency

Turkey’s benchmark index closed the week with a 384.55-point hike to reach 92,423.93 points on April 21, marking it the second highest close of all time.      

The highest close of the country’s benchmark index was recorded at 93,178.87 points on May 22, 2013.        
Borsa Istanbul’s BIST 100 index rose 0.42 percent with a total trading volume of 4.3 billion Turkish Liras (approximately $1.18 billion) and increased by 2.62 percent in a week compared with the close on April 14 at 90,063.69 points.        

The U.S. dollar/ lira exchange rate was flat at 3.6440 liras as of 5 p.m. (14:00 GMT) on April 21, compared with 3.6450 liras at the close on April 20.     
   
On the last trading day of the week, the banking and holding sector indices advanced by 0.12 percent and 0.89 percent, respectively.        

Among all sectors, the construction index was the best performer with an increase of 2.05 percent while the mining sector was the worst one, declining 1.31 percent.     
   
Shares of Kardemir Karabük Demir Çelik, which operates in the iron and steel industry, advanced the most on April 21 - up 4.10 percent - while stocks of Koza Gold Corporation (KOZAA) saw the largest decline, falling 2.70 percent.  
      
The top traded stocks were private lender Garanti, national flag-carrier Turkish Airlines, steel and iron producer Ereğli, followed by state lender Halkbank plus major defense system producer Aselsan.