Indian shares drop 5% on weak global cues

New Delhi: Indian shares fell 4.81 per cent yesterday in a broad sell-off, erasing the previous session's gains as recession fears hammered international equity markets and helping knock the rupee to a record low against the dollar.

Reliance Industries, India's most valuable firm which is due to report quarterly results today, fell 5.8 per cent, and top private-sector bank ICICI Bank lost 8 per cent.

These two stocks, which account for more than fifth of the main index, contributed most to the fall.

Poor results

Disappointing quarterly results from No 3 software-services exporter Wipro Ltd and a muted outlook on worsening economic conditions triggered selling of other outsourcers.

"Global cues, selling pressure from foreign institutional investors are hitting the markets," said D.D. Sharma, vice president at Anand Rathi Securities in Mumbai.

The 30-share BSE index dropped 513.49 points to 10,169.90, with all but two components falling. It was the index's second-weakest close this year.