Oct. 10 (Bloomberg) -- ICICI Bank Ltd., the Indian lender that's reported the biggest losses on overseas investments, fell by the most since its trading debut in September 1997.
The shares fell 20 percent to 362.3 rupees as of 12:18 p.m. local time in Mumbai trading. ICICI spokesman Charudatta Deshpande declined to comment on the stock's decline before a press briefing at 12:20 p.m.
The Reserve Bank of India and Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram last week issued statements reassuring investors that India's second-largest bank has enough capital. The bank, the worst performer among financial stocks in Asia today, has slumped 45 percent since the beginning of Sept. 1 as the global credit contraction led to the collapse or seizure of U.S. and U.K. banks.
``This is just the reflection of the global liquidity squeeze as about 70 percent of the stock is held by foreigners,'' said Vaibhav Agrawal, banking analyst at Angel Broking Ltd. ``This is just selling pressure and has gone beyond fundamentals.''
Reports of rumors about Mumbai-based ICICI's financial positions have led some depositors to withdraw cash from the bank in some locations, the Reserve Bank of India said on Sept. 30.
The bank's capital adequacy ratio was 13.4 percent as of June 30, more than the minimum 9 percent required by regulators, Chief Executive OfficerK.V. Kamath said on Sept. 30.
ICICI Bank may have to set aside an additional $28 million for potential losses on the 57 million euros ($82 million) in Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. debt held by its U.K. unit, according to a Sept. 16 statement from the lender.
The bank recorded $100 million in marked-to-market losses for the fourth quarter ended March 31 on overseas investments. For the fiscal year, the writedowns totaled $170 million.
The world's largest banks have recorded losses and writedowns of more than $590 billion since the collapse of the U.S. subprime-mortgage market led to a global credit contraction.
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