Borsa Istanbul may hit or surpass a historic high if the European Central Bank announces stimulus measures on Thursday, analysts said. The European Central Bank is expected to announce measures of quantitative easing on Thursday in order to inject liquidity into the European economy. The Istanbul exchange has reacted positively to the announcement, and the BIST 100 index has already risen by about three percent to 90,000 points ahead of the announcement. Saxo Capital Strategist Cüneyt Paksoy said that there is rising expectation for a fully-fledged quantitative easing program from the central bank that is supporting European stock exchanges. Paksoy noted a number of favorable factors that were driving a rise on the Istanbul exchange at the moment: "The market also anticipates a delay by the Federal Reserve in raising interest rates, declining inflation and narrowed current account deficit in Turkey, and the political stability ahead of general elections affects markets positively," Paksoy said.Borsa Istanbul has not seen the historic high of 93,398.33 points since the period before the so called "Gezi Protests" shook the country in 2013. Şeker Invest technical analyst Fatih Akın said that the drop in oil prices and declining interest rates are the driving forces behind the index's advance in recent weeks. The market will continue to rise as long as interest rates and oil prices remain at current levels, Akın said. Unless the BIST100 index drops below 87,000 points, it is likely to test the historic high, Akın added.