New York sugar futures up

Raw sugar futures finished higher on Friday on trade and speculative short-covering as the market rebounded from a fall to a seven-week low caused by a credit squeeze that pounded commodity markets, brokers said.
"All the commodities which got hit yesterday have recovered. I think sugar will consolidate around the 9.50 (cents, basis October) area, but we could still be affected by another flare-up in the credit crunch," a dealer for a financial house said. The New York Board of Trade's October sugar contract climbed 0.31 cent to settle at 9.40 cents per lb., trading from 9.21 to 9.59 cents.
On Thursday, the contract tumbled 0.36 cent, or 3.8 percent, to end at a seven-week low of 9.09 cents. Based on the daily spot ending level of the sugar market, it was the lowest close for the sweetener since it ended at 9.07 cents June 29.
March rose 0.27 cent to 9.64 cents. The rest increased from 0.19 to 0.23 cent. The more actively traded IntercontinentalExchange NYBOT electronic market for sugar showed the October contract up 0.28 cent to 9.37 cents at 1:15 pm EDT (1715 GMT).
Fundamentally, the market was still looking at a burdensome glut due to bumper production in Brazil and India, which could affect prices later in the season. But trade buying hoisted sugar at the start as players felt the downturn caused by the credit turmoil was overdone, trading sources said.
"They whacked everything up and down the (commodity) board. The trade came in and propped it up, so the locals who were so short were forced to cover as a result," one said. Technicians felt support in October sugar was at 9.00 cents. Resistance was at 9.50 and 10 cents. Volume traded around noon in the open-outcry pit was at 8,218 lots, down from the previous 13,477 lots.
Call volume was 6,706 lots and puts stood at 3,536 lots. Electronic volume on Thursday hit 94,281 lots and total volume was 107,758 lots. Open interest in the No 11 world raw sugar market dropped 2,267 to 667,640 lots as of August 16. No deals were done in the ethanol market. The US domestic electronic sugar market saw the November contract up 0.08 at 21.80 cents at 1:16 pm. Screen volume in the No 14 domestic sugar market on Thursday was 110 lots and 90 contracts were traded in the pit.