London white sugar futures closed little changed on Thursday, rebounding from earlier losses as they tracked a recovery in other commodity markets, dealers said.
Benchmark August ended up $0.90 at $469.40, near the top of the day's range of $470.50 to $459.50. October finished $0.20 higher at $465.70.
Total volume was 6,628 lots. "We bounced well but the omens don't look good. There isn't enough offtake," one dealer said, noting the earlier decline had been driven by fund selling sparked by weakness in copper, oil and other commodities after China raised interest rates.
Dealers said there were few buyers at current price levels.
Russia's heavyweight sugar producers will grow their share of the country's output to at least half this year from 40 to 45 percent in 2005 by investing in beet processing plants, a leading analyst said on Thursday.
COFFEE FALLS: Liffe robusta coffee futures closed lower on Thursday as speculative and fund selling drove down the market, dealers said.
Benchmark July robusta ended down $34 at $1,191 a tonne. It earlier came close to reaching recent highs, peaking at $1,239. May ended down $36 at $1,170 a tonne. It traded between $1,218 and $1,167. Total volume was 19,924 lots.
"Large speculative and small fund selling triggered off stops and from there it tumbled down," one trader said.
COCOA DOWN: London cocoa futures closed lower on Thursday in quiet trade as hedge-related selling pressured the market, dealers said.
"A fair bit of pressure from the hedging and a lack of any further short-covering from the funds meant the market came off fairly quickly," one trader said.
Benchmark July closed down 15 pounds at 885 pounds a tonne after it moved between 904 and 884 pounds. The May contract finished down 23 pounds at 882. Total volume was thin at 6,889 lots.
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