Turkish stock exchange temporarily halts trading in wake of earthquake

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - Turkish stock exchange Borsa Istanbul announced Wednesday that it has suspended trading due to two massive earthquakes which hit the country on Monday.

"Trading in the equity market, and single stock and index futures, and options contracts in derivatives market has been suspended," Borsa Istanbul said in a statement sent to the Public Disclosure Platform.

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index lost more than 19% from the last week's close due to the selloffs triggered by the earthquakes.

BIST 100 index was suspended at 4,186.01 points after it opened at 4,482.11 points on Wednesday.

At least 7,108 people were killed and 40,910 others injured after two strong earthquakes on Monday jolted southern Türkiye, the country's disaster agency said on Wednesday.

The magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 earthquakes, centered in the Kahramanmaras province, struck 10 provinces and affected more than 13 million people.

Several countries in the region, including Syria and Lebanon, felt the strong tremors that struck Türkiye in the space of less than 10 hours.