RPT Turkeys stock market extends sharp losses in aftermath of earthquake

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Turkey's benchmark BIST-100 index (.XU100) fell nearly 5 percent on Tuesday morning, extending sharp losses in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake that claimed more than 3,000 lives in the country.

Circuit breakers were issued for dozens of stocks, including large-cap bank Yapi Kredi (YKBNK.IS), mining giant Koza Altin (KOZAL.IS) and supermarket chain Migros (MGROS.IS), suspending trading in those stocks.

The benchmark BIST-100 index and the banking sub-index (.XBANK) declined 4.7 percent and 4 percent respectively by 0855 GMT.

On Monday, the BIST-100 tumbled as much as 4.99 percent before circuit breakers came into effect suspending trading in some shares and trading volume remained at a fraction of last week's average at 21 billion lira, according to a research note from Ziraat Yatirim.

The drop in the Turkish market bucked a rise in the main emerging markets index (.MSCIEF) which was up more than 1 percent on Tuesday.

The magnitude 7.8 quake that hit Turkey and neighboring Syria early on Monday toppled thousands of buildings and left thousands of people injured or homeless. It was followed by another slightly smaller quake. The total death toll in Turkey and Syria surpassed 5,000 by Tuesday, after Turkey declared 3,419 dead.