[MILAN] European shares fell on Friday morning as worries over a plunging Turkish lira weighed, with banks most exposed to the country among the biggest losers.

Shares in France's BNP Paribas, Italy's UniCredit and Spain's BBVA fell by around 3 per cent after the Financial Times reported that the European Central Bank is concerned about their exposure to Turkey in light of the lira's dramatic fall.

While most sectors were trading in negative territory, banks were the biggest sectoral fallers, down 1.3 per cent. By 0714 GMT, the pan-European STOXX 600 index was down 0.5 per cent.

"There are some big moves still in Turkey and Russia that are preventing everyone from enjoying the summer," said Deutsche Bank strategists Jim Reid and Jeff Cai in their morning note.

Elsewhere, a profit warning from K+S sent shares in the German potash miner tumbling 8.8 per cent to the bottom of the STOXX index.

REUTERS