Raw sugar finished easier on Monday in a market dominated by position rolling by investors getting out of the spot contract before it expires next week, brokers said. "I think it's mostly focused on that (rollovers), but it's been quiet," said Mike McDougall, senior vice-president of FIMAT USA Inc, adding dealings will see more switch trade until the October contract is down to a manageable level.
Open interest in the October contract tumbled 26,359 lots to 141,314 contracts as of September 14 while interest in the March contract went up 26,190 to 303,414 lots. ICE Futures open-outcry October sugar contract eased 0.01 cent to close at 9.34 cents per lb., moving from 9.31 to 9.44 cents.
March shed 0.07 cent at 9.62 cents. The rest lost from 0.05 to 0.09 cent. The electronic sugar market saw its October contract down 0.01 cent to 9.34 cents at 1:32 pm EDT (1732 GMT), dealing from 9.30 to 9.44 cents. Fundamentally, advances in the market had been hemmed in by the presence of a sizeable glut caused by bumper cane crops in Brazil and top consumer India among others. Speculative and trade buying enabled the market to post gains at the onset of business, but switch-linked liquidation shoved futures back down, the dealers said.
"We're getting October down pretty quickly. I expect by the end of the week that it should be below 70,000 or even 50,000 lots," one said. Estimated open-outcry volume around noon was 21,545 lots, from the previous tally of 39,479 lots.
Call volume was 2,162 lots and put volume stood at 2,244 lots. Screen trade was at 107,199 lots and total volume Friday was at 146,638 lots. Open interest in the No 11 sugar market rose 807 lots to 644,611 contracts as of September 14. Ethanol futures were unthreaded.
The United States domestic electronic No 14 sugar market showed the November contract down 0.02 cent at 21.10 cents at 1:33 pm. Screen volume on Friday in the market reached 360 lots while 1,484 lots were traded in the pit.
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