Turkish stocks end day with gains after holiday

ANKARA

Turkey's benchmark stock index ended Wednesday up 1.87% to close at 104,935.82 points, following a break for the Muslim Eid al-Fitr holiday.

After starting the first business day of the week at 104,710.62 points, Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index surged 1,911.48 points from 103,024.34 points at Friday's close.

During Wednesday's trading, the BIST 100 hovered between 103,798.00 points and 105,495.10 points -- 88 stocks on the index rose, nine fell, and three were flat compared to the previous close

Closing the day with a market value of nearly 754.8 billion Turkish liras ($111.1 billion), the benchmark index posted a daily trading volume of 16.5 billion Turkish liras ($2.4 billion).

Shares of Garanti BBVA, national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, and defense company Aselsan posted the highest trading volumes on Wednesday -- accounting for around 28.5% of the benchmark index's total trade volume.

Stocks of Tav Holding, which is active in airport operations, posted the best performance of the day -- up 9.99% -- as shares of Alkim Kimya, which produces chemical materials, did the worst with a 3.10% drop.

One ounce of gold sold for $1,707.00 at the daily close in Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets, versus $1,735.00 at last week's close.

The price of Brent oil was $34.49 per barrel as of 6 p.m. local time (1500GMT) on Wednesday -- with a day range of $34.27 to $36.17.

At the beginning of 2020, a barrel of Brent oil sold for around $58.