Friday, October 10, 2008

Value of funds' holdings of ICICI seen down sharply

Indian funds may have seen the value of their combined holdings in ICICI Bank drop by around 21 billion rupees ($430 million) in six weeks, based on their holdings at the end of August and the fall in the bank's share price since.

Shares in ICICI fell as much as 28 percent on Friday before ending down 19.7 percent, taking their 2008 losses to over 70 percent, as investors dumped the stock on concerns about its potential exposure to the global financial crisis.

More than 200 mutual funds collectively held about 68 million shares or 6.14 percent of India's top private sector bank at the end of August, making it their third most-preferred holding, data from Reuters and fund tracker ICRA showed.

ICICI Bank shares have fallen 46 percent since the end of August. Updated figures on funds' holdings as at end-September are due next week.

ICICI Bank is the most preferred banking stock of the Indian mutual fund industry, the August data shows. The collective holdings of funds rose more than 60 percent in the first eight months of 2008.

Forty funds had invested more than 5 percent of their assets in ICICI Bank at the end of August, up from 32 at the start of the year, data showed.


FUNDS' INTEREST IN ICICI BANK

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