Indian (SENSEX) stock-index futures gained after the biggest loss in the benchmark index in more than two weeks yesterday.

SGX CNX Nifty Index futures for September delivery rose 0.4 percent to 5,342 at 10:16 a.m. in Singapore. The underlying CNX Nifty (NIFTY) Index tumbled 3.8 percent to 5,341.45 yesterday, the most since Aug. 16. The S&P BSE Sensex plunged 3.5 percent. The Bank of New York Mellon India ADR Index of U.S.-traded shares fell 2.6 percent to the lowest level since Aug. 2, 2012.

The Sensex slumped yesterday as oil prices climbed and the rupee weakened the most among 19 Asia-Pacific currencies, extending last month’s 8.1 percent loss. Standard & Poor’s reiterated its view yesterday that the nation’s credit rating may be reduced to junk. The rupee posted its biggest monthly decline in more than 21 years in August as India struggles to contain an unprecedented current-account deficit and boost an economy that grew at the slowest pace in a decade last fiscal year.

“There is a risk and there is an opportunity,” Jeff Chowdhry, head of emerging-market equities at London-based F&C Asset Management Plc, which oversees about $ 150 billion, told Bloomberg TV India yesterday. “The opportunity, particularly for foreign investors, is that the market is 30 percent cheaper.”

Downgrade Risk

The Sensex has lost 22 percent in dollar terms from a July 23 peak. The gauge is valued at 12.9-times projected 12-month earnings, compared with 14.3 times on July 23, and has lost 6.1 percent this year.

International investors bought a net $ 76 million of Indian shares on Sept. 2, data from the regulator showed yesterday. That increased this year’s net inflow to $ 11.5 billion, the second-highest among 10 Asian markets tracked by Bloomberg.

One-month rupee forwards lost 0.4 percent to an all-time low of 69.26 per dollar today. Brent crude added 0.1 percent to $ 115.76 a barrel after rising 1.2 percent yesterday.

S&P said there is more than a one-in-three chance that India’s rating will be cut within two years and maintained its negative outlook on the nation’s BBB- rating, the lowest investment grade, credit analyst Kim Eng Tan said at a briefing in Seoul yesterday.

Shares of Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. (MSIL), the nation’s biggest carmaker by volume, may be active after Chairman R.C. Bhargava said yesterday the company is considering setting up a plant in Sri Lanka to offset the higher duties in that country on imported vehicles.

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (SUNP) may move after it won a license to build a 10-megawatt solar plant in India’s Karnataka state with a bid to supply power at a record-low rate.

To contact the reporter on this story: Rajhkumar K Shaaw in Mumbai at rshaaw@bloomberg.net

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