Discount on benchmark index futures widens

MUMBAI, May 16 (Reuters) - The discount on benchmark stock index futures widened on Friday on cash-based buying and unwinding of long positions in the derivatives segment, analysts said on Friday.

"There was cash based buying on heavy weights like Steel Authority of India (SAIL.BO: Quote, Profile, Research) and Cairn India (CAIL.BO: Quote, Profile, Research)," said Siddharth Bhamre, investment strategist at Angel Broking.

The discount on the Nifty May futures NIFc1 to the 50-share NSE index widened to 5.4 points from 2.45 points on Thursday.

The 50-share NSE index ended 0.83 percent up at 5,157.70 points. The current month Nifty futures closed up about 0.7 percent at 5,152.30 points.

Analysts see resistance for the coming trading sessions at 5,200 points, and support at 4,900-5,000 points for the spot Nifty.

"Now the immediate resistance is at 5,200 levels as there was a significant amount of call open interest build up at 5,200 levels," said Sameer Shetye, analyst with Emkay Share and Stock Brokers.

The implied volatility (IV) has dropped from 27-28 percent levels to 21-22 percent levels over the past week, he said.

"Typically dropping of IV indicates a stable market," Shetye said.

Total derivative segment turnover on Friday slipped to about 378.8 billion rupees from 382 billion rupees the previous day.