European stocks turned negative in morning trade today as reports of blasts in the Turkish city of Istanbul rattled investor nerves.
CNN Turkey reported two explosions in Istanbul, one which it said destroyed part of British-based bank HSBC's Turkish headquarters and one that damaged the British consulate.
By 9:18 a.m., the FTSE Eurotop 300 index of pan-European blue chips was 0.7 per cent lower at 909 points, and the narrower DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index fell 0.9 per cent to 2,552 points. The indexes were both up around 0.3 per cent ahead of the reports.
Today's blasts followed two deadly bombs at synagogues in Istanbul over the weekend.
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.