Indian shares fall 0.8pc; state refiners drop

MUMBAI: Indian shares fell as much as 0.8 percent in early trade on Wednesday as investors digested a poor corporate results season in Asia's third-largest economy and remained cautious on a lack of definitive progress in resolving Europe's debt crisis.

Shares in refiners Hindustan Petroleum Corp and Bharat Petroleum Corp fell as much as 4.0 percent and 3.4 percent respectively after the firms and their state-run rival Indian Oil Corp cut petrol prices by about 3.2 percent, the first reduction in three years.

At 9:16 a.m. (0346 GMT), the 30-share BSE index was down 0.76 percent at 16,757.75 points, with 25 of its components trading lower.