Indian ADRs shed $7.5 bn in a week, Sterlite top loser

The Indian stocks trading on the American bourses saw a collective value erosion of $7.5 billion last week, with copper producer Sterlite Industries accounting for nearly one-third of this loss.
    
The week ended January 22 saw the Wall Street recording the worst weekly fall in over two years following the Obama administration's bid to control the wayward lending and investment practices of the major American banks.
   
During the week, the Indian entities listed on the New York Stock Exchange and the tech-heavy Nasdaq together lost a whopping $7.5 billion from their market capitalisation, with Sterlite alone shedding USD2.34 billion to USD14.72 billion.
     
Private sector lenders like HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank together lost $2.63 billion from their combined market capitalisation on the American bourses.
     
HDFC Bank's valuation tumbled by $1.61 billion to $17.84 billion, while ICICI Bank lost $1.02 billion to $20.02 billion.
    
The ADRs are bought and sold on American markets just like stocks and are issued by a bank or a brokerage house. There are as many as 16 Indian companies listed on the US bourses as ADRs.
   
Another major loser was IT major Wipro, whose valuation plunged by $882 million, followed by the automaker Tata Motors, which saw a fall of $504 million to its total market capitalisation of $7.32 billion.
    
The market capitalisation of pharma major Dr Reddy's Labs declined by $352 million to $4.03 million.
 
Besides, IT bellwether Infosys Technologies, telecom major Tata Communications and BPO company Genpact's valuation declined by $245 million, $220 million and $175 million, respectively.
    
Other losers include Internet firms--Sify Technologies and Rediff.Com, telecom major Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd, IT firms-- Patni Computer Systems and Mahindra Satyam (earlier known as Satyam Computer Systems)and outsourcing companies-- WNS Holdings and EXLService Holdings, whose valuation slipped in the range of $1 million to $68 million.
    
On Friday, the US markets ended in the red, with Dow Jones Industrial Average settling down by 216.90 points at 10,172.98 and S&P 500 fell by 24.72 points to 1,091.76. Besides, tech heavy Nasdaq was down 60.41 points at 2,205.29.