Many Bermuda-based insurers and reinsurers lost ground yesterday as fears grew that the damage from Hurricane Katrina may make it the worst US hurricane ever.

The Bermuda insurance Index, which tracks the performance of publicly-traded Bermuda insurers, was down 0.67 percent to 1,101.83 after losing more than two percent on Thursday.

With New Orleans and the American Gulf Coast continuing to reel from the aftermath of the storm and with agencies prouducing gloomier damage estimates yesterday, PXRE lost 6.48 percent to close at a 52-week low of $21.49 while Axis Specialty was down 2.41 percent to $27.56.

Reinsurers with heavy catastrophe and property exposures like RenaissanceRe (down 1.89 percent), Platinum (down 1.79 percent), Montpelier Re (off 1.7 percent to its 52-week low), Aspen (down 1.15 percent) were also hard hit.

Some insurers' stock prices improved, with Max Re gaining 2.35 percent to close at $23.13, White Mountains gaining 1.36 percent to $36.50 and Scottish Re rising 0.99 percent to $24.45.

The Royal Gazette/Bermuda Stock Exchange Index closed unchanged yesterday to close at 3637.59. Butterfield Bank was the only stock to record movement. It closed unchanged at $43.50 after investors traded 18,137 shares.