Raw sugar futures finished fractionally softer on Friday in dull business featuring small speculators, with the market tipped to remain range-bound due to a dearth of news next week, brokers said. The New York Board of Trade's key March raw sugar contract slipped 0.02 cent to end at 8.80 cents a lb, in a tight band from 8.80 to 8.86 cents. May sugar lost the same to 8.97 cents. The rest were 0.03 cent down to up 0.03 cent.
"The lack of cash news is keeping the market in check," said James Cordier of Liberty Trading Group in referring to a dearth in consumer buying for the sweetener.
The fundamental picture in sugar looks bullish due to forecasts of a supply deficit in 2004/05 and a steady rise in consumer buying from countries like China and India.
But with news scanty, the market stayed in its current rut and did not budge out of its range, floor sources said.
After starting near its highs, the small speculators nudged sugar down to its lows where it ran into decent trade support, they said.
"It's been ridiculously quiet. It was like a combination of watching the paint dry and the grass grow," one said.
Technicians said they feel support in the March contract is at 8.80 and 8.75 cents, while resistance would be at 9.00 and 9.04 cents.
Traded volume just before the market closed for the day reached 8,768 lots, from the previous tally of 28,168 lots. Call volume at that time stood at 1,674 lots while puts hit 671 lots. Open interest in the No 11 sugar market rose 3,824 contracts to 329,402 lots as of December 2.
Ethanol futures closed unchanged with the February contract settling at 95 cents a gallon.
US domestic sugar prices closed mixed Friday.
January sugar was flat at 20.25 cents a lb and March eased 0.01 to 20.34 cents.
Three contracts aside, the rest were steady. Traded volume before the market closed touched 873 lots, versus the prior 931 lots.
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