Turkey's Halkbank shares down 5% after U.S. court meeting on criminal case cancelled

Jan 28 (Reuters) - Shares in Turkey's state lender Halkbank HALKB.IS dropped more than 5% and were the worst performer in Istanbul on Wednesday after a scheduled court meeting regarding its U.S. criminal case was cancelled on Tuesday in New York.

The cancelled status conference, scheduled to happen before a U.S. district judge, was to be focused on Washington's long-running case against Halkbank, which is accused of fraud, money laundering and conspiracy for allegedly helping Iran evade U.S. economic sanctions.

The U.S. court docket said the status conference had been adjourned. No new conference had been scheduled late on Tuesday.

Reuters reported that Turkish officials floated a settlement offer last year.

The bank's shares drop was the worst on Istanbul's BIST-100 .XU100 index. They were trading 5.7% lower at 0718 GMT.