New York sugar futures end mixed

Raw sugar futures finished mixed on Thursday in activity featuring small speculators as bomb explosions in London dampened the mood after the sugar market there was forced to shut down, traders said. The New York Board of Trade's active October sugar contract rose 0.02 cent to settle at 9.37 cents a lb., trading from 9.27 to 9.39 cents. March was flat at 9.45 cents.
Except for one contract, the rest fell 0.01 or 0.02-cent. "Everything is at a standstill right now," James Corridor of Liberty Trading Group said, adding market players would likely monitor the situation in London to see if market participants can go back to their trading desks on Friday.
Four blasts rocked London on Thursday, killing at least 33 people. Security experts said the blasts had hallmarks of the al Qaeda network responsible for the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington and the 2004 train bombings in Madrid.
Fundamentally, analysts said, the sugar market was looking at bullish factors like strong consumer buying, which should boost values in the weeks ahead.
Sugar eased to its session low on knee-jerk sales by speculators, but the trade quickly brought the market back to slightly positive territory and the sweetener proceeded to drift in a band throughout the session, brokers said.
"We called up our guys in London and they're OK," a senior trading house dealer said. "It's been very, very quiet and we're just keeping tabs on the situation." Technicians put support in the October contract at 9.12 and 9.05 cents. Resistance was at 9.45/47 cents. Estimated volume before the close of business hit 23,618 lots, down from the prior tally of 36,155 lots. Call volume stood at 3,813 lots and puts amounted to 2,120 lots.
Open interest in the No 11 raw sugar market rose 3,739 to 379,816 contracts as of July 6.
Ethanol futures were untraded for the fourth session running and no quotes were seen in the spot September contract. US domestic sugar futures ended mixed.
September rose 0.12 cent to 21.98 cents a lb. while November added 0.12 to 20.74 cents.
Except for two contracts, the rest shed 0.01 or 0.02 cent. Volume traded before the close reached 830 lots, against the prior 273 contracts.