London white sugar futures closed stronger on speculative buying on Friday in anticipation of possible weekend physical demand, traders said. Benchmark August settled up $2.50 at $452.00 per tonne after trading in a narrow range of $454.00 to $450.00.
Total volume was a 4,480 lots.
"You probably don't want to go home short at the weekend," one trader said.
Traders noted trade and speculative selling overhanging the market.
Traders referred to talk that Cuba and North African countries were seeking white sugar, but there was no official confirmation.
The devastating sugar cane disease known as smut has been found in a second property in the Australian state of Queensland, a spokesman for the Department of Primary Industries said on Friday.
COCOA DECLINES:
London cocoa futures ended up on Friday after retreating from earlier highs fuelled by short covering, narrowing the premium between the July and September contracts, dealers said.
Short covering by funds pushed the front-month contract to a 15-month high of 946 pounds earlier in the session. July's premium to September fell away to 35 pounds from 49 pounds earlier in the day.
"The funds covered their shorts and the market came off," said one dealer.
The July contract settled up 7 pounds, or 0.8 percent, at 929 pounds after trading between 946 and 911 pounds. The contract closed at 923 pounds in the previous session.
The benchmark September contract ended up 7 pounds, or 0.8 percent, at 894 pounds after trading between 899 and 881 pounds. Total volume was 22,550 lots.
COFFEE DOWN:
London robusta coffee futures ended down on Friday on speculative selling by funds, dealers said.
The benchmark September contract settled down $23, or 1.9 percent, at $1,162 a tonne after trading between $1,182 and $1,158. Total volume was 7,679 lots.
"There were some funds doing some speculative selling," said one dealer, adding that there had been some support from light industry buying.
World coffee production in 2005/06 will fall 8 percent to 108.4 million bags, compared to 117.4 million bags in the same period last year, German analyst F.O. Licht said in a report on Friday.
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