London white sugar futures closed sharply lower on Wednesday, weighed down by weakness in the broad-based CRB commodities index, which hit its low for the year, traders said.
Benchmark May settled down $12.0 or 2.7 percent at $438.50 per tonne, just above the day's low of $437.50.
August concluded down $11.00 or 2.5 percent at $435.50 per tonne.
Total volume was 6,440 lots.
"The commodities complexes generally have taken a bit of a pullback," one trader said, referring to the drop of the CRB index to its weakest since early December 2005. Other traders said the weakness in the CRB index was a factor in the sell-off of sugar futures, pressured by losses in other commodity markets.
COCOA STRONGER: London cocoa futures hit two-and-a-half week highs on Wednesday, settling stronger on technical signals, dealers said.
Benchmark May ended up 27 pounds or 3 percent at 909 pounds a tonne - the highest since February 16 - on fund buying in volume of 6,701 lots. "It's just technical considerations," a trader said. "It's broken out of a range."
"(The market) has been waiting...it's just exploded to the upside. It was going to go one way or the other and it's chosen to go higher rather than lower." Total volume was 16,658 lots.
COFFEE STEADIER: Liffe robusta coffee futures closed a touch higher on Wednesday, bouncing off earlier eight-week lows on roaster and speculative buying, dealers said.
Benchmark May robusta ended up $2 at $1,177 a tonne, having moved between $1,181 and $1,156.
Spot March rose a dollar to $1,163. Total volume was 14,089 lots. "We've had interest from roasters, the trade coming to buy, and I think there are some speculators as well because it does look very oversold," a trader said.
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