"Following the sub-prime crisis overseas, ICICI Bank's overseas operations had reported market-to-market (MTM) losses of 264.34 million dollars on account of its exposure to credit derivatives and investments as on January 31, 2008," Minister of State for Finance P K Bansal told Rajya Sahba in a written reply.

The 30-share Sensex on the Bombay Stock Exchange, which had plunged by over 900 points in previous day's trading, dipped further by 337.99 points at 16,339.89.

The key index touched a low of 16,164.57 and a high of 16,754.06 points.

The Sensex, which has been on downward march ever since the budgetary proposals for waiving farm loans were announced, has tumbled by nearly 1,486 points in the past four trading sessions.

The index had its smallest loss of 1.51 points on last Thursday and second biggest of 900 points on Monday.

The National Stock Exchange index Nifty also dropped by 88.75 points at 4,864.25, after dipping to a low of 4812.95 and day's high of 4,976.70 points.

ICICI Bank stocks suffered a loss of Rs 52.85 at Rs 971.60 on panic selling, and State Bank of India stocks lost Rs 49.45 at Rs 1,873.95 followed by HDFC Bank by Rs 33.25 at Rs 1,357.30.

All the three banks carry nearly 20 percent weightage on the Sensex.

Brokers said that more than 200 crore ICICI Bank shares changed hands on the BSE, compared with an average daily volume of 688,773 shares in the last three months. The stock accounts for almost 10 percent of the Sensex's value.

Realty stocks were second biggest loser as the segment major DLF Ltd, the nation's biggest developer, dropped Rs.36.55 at Rs.678.15, its lowest since 18th September.

Unitech Ltd also dropped by Rs 13 at Rs 326.50.

Source: DDNEWS