GDANSK - Trading on the Istanbul stock market was halted for a second time on Monday as a market-wide circuit breaker kicked in after heavy losses, with worries over a possible U.S. recession gripping financial markets.

The second circuit-breaker was issued at 0725 GMT, with the benchmark BIST-100 index .XU100 down 7.07% and the banking index down 8.73%.

The stock market said trading was due to resume at 0755 GMT.

Stock markets tumbled on Monday as fears the United States could be heading for recession sent investors rushing from risk while wagering that rapid fire rate cuts will be needed to rescue growth.

The lira  weakened to a record low of 33.38 against the U.S. dollar at 0741 GMT, after closing at 33.2450 on Friday.

(Writing by Canan Sevgili;Editing by Daren Butler)