Turkey's Benchmark Stock İndex Flat At Close

Turkey's benchmark stock index rose by 0.02 percent to close at 112,122.15 points on Thursday with around 7.7 billion Turkish lira ($1.9 billion) trade volume.



Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index ended the day with a 23.14-point rise from Wednesday's close of 112,099.01 points, while it opened the day at 112,111.56 points with a 0.01 percent rise.



On Wednesday, the BIST 100 rallied -- up 3.08 percent -- at daily close, following Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced a plan to hold early presidential and parliamentary elections on June 24, instead of November 2019.



The USD/TRY exchange flat at 4.0290 as of 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT) Thursday, versus 4.0500 at Wednesday's close.



The euro/lira exchange rate fell to 4.9910 by market close -- down from 5.0190 at the previous close -- and one British pound traded for 5.7490 Turkish liras while the GBP/TRY rate was 5.7830 at the previous close.



The BIST Gold Exchange index declined by 0.36 percent at the daily close. In the Precious Metals and Diamond Markets of Borsa Istanbul, one ounce of gold traded for $1,347.50 as of 4.30 p.m. local time (1330GMT) Thursday, compared with $1,352.30 at Wednesday's close.



As of 6 p.m. local time (1500GMT), the price of Brent oil stood at $74.37 per barrel -- hovering between $73.67 and $74.75 during Thursday -- climbing from around $66 at the beginning of this year. -