UPDATE 1-AmericanWest posts Q1 loss; suspends dividend

(Recasts; adds details, share movement)

April 24 (Reuters) - AmericanWest Bancorp (AWBC.O) posted a first-quarter loss, wrote off a fifth of its goodwill, suspended its quarterly dividend and said it was looking at ways to raise capital, sending its shares to a 52-week low.

The bank holding company is the latest to join the bunch of small and mid-sized banks that have recently slashed dividends to preserve capital amid rising bad loans.

AmericanWest said it does not expect to reinstitute its dividend before 2009. It had paid a dividend of 4 cents a share in the last quarter.

The company posted a loss of $31.6 million, or $1.83 a share, for the quarter, including a goodwill impairment charge of $27 million, or $1.57 a share. It earned $2.2 million, or 19 cents a share, a year ago.

AmericanWest said the goodwill write-off was due to the decline in its market capitalization in the year and lower merger valuations of its recent acquisitions.

Provision for losses was $12.8 million, signalling continued deterioration in the residential construction and development portfolios.

Non-performing assets as a percentage of total assets were 2.3 percent in the quarter compared with 1.9 percent in the year-ago quarter.

Shares of the company, which have lost about 69 percent of their value this year, fell to a year-low of $5.44, before recovering some losses to trade at $5.83 in morning trade on Nasdaq. (Reporting by Dinesh Nair; Editing by Amitha Rajan) (dinesh.nair@reuters.com ; within U.S. +1 646 223 8780; outside U.S. +91 80 4135 5800; Reuters Messaging: dinesh.nair.reuters.com@reuters.net))