Beijing, Sep 18 (Xinhua) Chinese bourse plunged nearly 6 percent in early trading Thursday following heavy overnight losses on Wall Street. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index plummeted 5.84 percent to close the morning session at 1,816.44 points, led by bankers and insurers.

The decline in Chinese bourses tracked overnight losses on Wall Street, where the Dow Jones industrial average slid 449.36 points, or 4.06 percent, to 10,609.66.

The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China nosedived 7.89 percent to 3.15 yuan ($0.46) after the bank reported its holdings at $151.8 million the previous day.

The Bank of China said its total exposure was $128.82 million late Wednesday. Its share prices went down 4.38 percent to 2.84 yuan in the morning.

China Merchants Bank, the first Chinese bank to report holding bonds worth $70 million issued by Lehman, lost 3.59 percent to 13.95 yuan after a two-day plunge of the 10 percent daily limit.

China Ping An plummeted finished the morning session at 30.2 yuan, while China Life Insurance was down 9.42 percent to 17.99 yuan.

The real estate sector also reported heavy losses and drove the index lower.

Chongqing Yukaifa fell 10.04 percent to 4.3 yuan, and China Vanke fell 5.23 percent to 4.89 yuan. The Shenzhen Component Index closed at 6,338.19 points, down 341.87 points, or 5.12 percent.