London sugar futures abandoned earlier gains to close lower on Wednesday after the New York raws market breached a key technical level and triggered automatic fund sell signals, dealers said.
Prices had earlier nudged higher as consumers took advantage of the recent dip in prices, but after peaking at $450.60, the benchmark October subsequently dropped as low as $440.30 - its weakest in just over one month. October whites settled at $441.80 a tonne, down $6.70 or 1.5 percent. December shed $6.70 to $439.00 a tonne. Total volume was 6,097 lots.
"New York fell through the 200-day moving average for the first time in over a year and it ran a lot of fund stops," one broker said. "That just tipped the market over." He added that there were more sell stops lurking below the June low of $14.97 cents on October raws, which finished 0.28 cent down at 15.03 cents a lb.
Dealers said earlier that consumer buying was lurking below the market, but it failed to materialise as prices weakened, with traders noting a smooth slide from $446 to the low of $440.
COFFEE RISES: London robusta coffee futures ended up on Wednesday on buying by speculators and roasters taking advantage of relatively low prices amid strong fundamentals, dealers said. The benchmark September contract settled up $25, or 2.1 percent, at $1,202 a tonne after trading between $1,205 and $1,180. Total volume was 12,290 lots. "Roasters and specs were buying," one dealer said, adding that spread trading made up the bulk of day's volumes.
COCOA DOWN: London cocoa futures ended down on speculative selling in low volume trade on Wednesday, dealers said. The benchmark September contract settled down 6 pounds, or 0.7 percent, at 856 pounds a tonne after trading between 874 and 855 pounds. Total volume was 7,651 lots.
"There was light spec selling," one dealer said. The dealer added the market was waiting to see what funds with long positions would do in the coming sessions. Fund selling pulled London cocoa to new lows on Monday after falling to a six-week low on Friday.
Comments
Comments are closed.