London white sugar futures closed lower on fund selling on Thursday, and traders noted firm buying support from the trade amid fresh physical offtake after Monday's speculator-driven selloff.
Front month October finished down $1.4 at $236.1 a tonne in volume of 2,753 lots, having traded between $239.5 and $235.0.
December ended down $0.9 at $243.6 in volume of 333 lots.
"New York is dragging the London market down due to fund selling," one trader said in a reference to funds continuing to wind down their sizeable long positions after Monday's selloff.
Another trader said, "The funds were selling in the market today - I estimate some 1,500-2,000 lots."
Traders noted talk of Libya buying around two cargoes of white sugar. Official confirmation was not immediately available.
Libya's state-run National Company for Supply Commodities has delayed but not cancelled its decision on a tender to buy 100,000 tonnes of white sugar, a senior company official said last week.
Tunisian state-run agency Office du Commerce has bought two cargoes of white sugar at between $292 and $293 a tonne C&F for delivery in January and February next year, an official said on Thursday.
The state-run Taiwan Sugar Corp has sealed a deal for 35,000 tonnes of raw sugar from Australia's Queensland Sugar Ltd and plans to tender for another 35,000 tonnes, said market sources on Thursday.
Traders talked of purchases of a few cargoes by South Korean, Malaysian and Indian buyers, but the deals could not be officially confirmed.
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