Indian (SENSEX) stock-index futures dropped in Singapore after benchmark indexes rallied yesterday.

SGX CNX Nifty (NIFTY) Index futures for January delivery fell 0.2 percent to 6,336 at 10:02 a.m. The underlying CNX Nifty Index rose 0.2 percent to 6,296.62 yesterday. The S&P BSE Sensex added 0.2 percent. The Bank of New York Mellon India ADR Index of U.S.-traded shares lost 0.1 percent.

The Sensex has climbed 8.5 percent this year, advancing to a record on Dec. 9, as international investors poured almost $ 20 billion into Indian stocks even amid persistent inflation and the slowest economic growth in more than a decade.

“I remain skeptical of the flows being strong even after a $ 20 billion bet being placed,” Shankar Char, vice president at ICICI Securities Ltd., wrote in an e-mail yesterday.

Foreign funds bought a net $ 30.5 million of local shares on Dec. 23 and Dec. 24, taking this year’s inflows to $ 19.9 billion, the most in Asia after Japan. Net purchases last year were $ 24.6 billion.

The Sensex is trading at 13.5 times projected 12-month earnings, with the five-year average multiple of 14.3. The MSCI Emerging Markets Index is valued at 10.4 times.

To contact the reporter on this story: Santanu Chakraborty in Mumbai at schakrabor11@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Patterson at mpatterson10@bloomberg.net

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