Turk stocks dive on blasts
ISTANBUL, Turkey (Reuters) -- Turkish stocks dived on Thursday morning and trade in the lira halted after explosions rocked Istanbul, one at the HSBC Turkey headquarters in the center of the city's main business district.
The Istanbul stock exchange suspended trade on the main index after it dived 7.37 percent to 14,617.53 points. There were no quotations for the lira, which last traded at 1,463,000 to the dollar from Wednesday's 1,459,500.
"There were panic sales on the stock market after news of the blast came," said one Istanbul trader, who asked not to be named.
Another explosion rocked the British consulate in Istanbul's Taksim district, eye witnesses said. There was also a blast in a residential area.
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