By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA

Turkey's benchmark stock index closed Tuesday at 118,400.06 points, marking its highest close of all time, with a total trading volume of 7.5 billion Turkish liras ($1.98 billion).

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index was up 1,164.59 points or 0.99 percent from Monday's close of 117,235.47, while the banking and holding sector indices increased by 0.72 percent and 0.42 percent, respectively.

Among all sectors, the BIST telecommunication index performed the best with a 5.21 percent hike and the basic metal sector index fell the most, going down 0.81 percent.

During the trading hours on Tuesday, the BIST 100 hit its all-time peak at 118,955.83 points. The index closed last year at 115,333.01 points on Dec. 29, 2017, and recorded a 48.3 percent annual climb compared with a close of 77,754.46 points on Jan. 2, 2017.

Turkey's telecommunication giant Turk Telekom (TTKOM) was the top gainer of the day as its shares rose by 6.96 percent. Stocks of investment trust Global Yatirim Holding (GLYHO) showed the worst performance on Tuesday, falling 2.74 percent.

The top five most-traded stocks were the national flag-carrier Turkish Airlines, iron and steel producer Kardemir, investment trust Global Yatirim Holding, followed by private lender Garanti and leading mobile operator Turkcell.

On Tuesday, the U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange fell to 3.7840 as of 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT), compared with Friday's close at 3.7970.

The euro/lira exchange rate was also down, declining to 4.6390 on Tuesday, from previous markets' close at 4.6530.

The BIST Gold Exchange index advanced 0.15 percent, while the price of gold per kilogram decreased to 162,900 Turkish liras ($43,082) as of 4.30 p.m. local time (1330GMT), versus 163,250 Turkish liras ($43,002) on Monday.

As of 7 p.m. local time (1600GMT) Tuesday, the price of Brent oil was $70,11 per barrel, up from $68.61 at previous close.