Raw sugar futures settled slightly softer on Monday due to sales by small speculators as the market came out of a long holiday weekend in a subdued mood, brokers said. The sugar market was shut on Thursday and Friday for Thanksgiving.
ICE Futures March electronic sugar contract shed 0.04 cent to 9.74 cents per lb at 1:19 pm EST (1819 GMT), dealing from 9.72 to 9.86 cents. The March open-outcry sugar contract fell 0.04 cent to end at 9.74 cents per lb, trading 9.73 to 9.81 cents. May shed 0.03 to 10.06 cents. The rest lost 0.02 to 0.11 cent. "The locals were doing most of the business.
It's just dead quiet and we could just go sideways unless some news comes up during the week," a brokerage house trader said. On a fundamental level, analysts said sugar must contend with surplus supplies although every little advance is taken as an opportunity by growers such as those in India to sell the market.
Sugar opened on a mixed note, crept to its highs for the session on speculative buying and sagged to near its lows for the day when the same speculators sold futures, dealers said.
"It was light as can be and the only notable feature was some activity in the options ring," one explained. Technicians feel support in the March contract was at 9.60 and 9.50 cents, with resistance at 10 and 10.22 cents. Open-outcry volume around noon was at 2,993 lots, versus the prior tally of 9,464 lots. Call volume reached 15,078 lots while puts hit 5,687 lots.
Screen trade on Wednesday was 41,612 lots and total volume reached 51,076 lots. Open interest in the No 11 sugar market rose 2,552 lots to 764,705 lots as of November 21. Ethanol futures were untraded. The United States electronic domestic No 14 sugar market showed the January contract down 0.01 cent to 20.50 cents at 1:21 pm. Screen volume traded on Wednesday reached 386 lots while 143 lots were traded in the pit, the exchange said.
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