Raw sugar futures finished higher on Wednesday on investor buying as the market has bucked a commodity-wide sell-off and is now poised to hit new highs in the days ahead, brokers said. The key October raw sugar contract climbed 0.17 cent to conclude at 15.95 cents per lb. The contract ranged between 15.61 and 16.02 cents, within a few points of the three-year high of 16.05 cents hit by the market earlier this year.
Volume traded in the October contract stood at 45,708 lots at 2:22 pm EDT (1822 GMT). Spot July sugar added 0.19 cent to end at 14.99 cents. James Cordier, an analyst for brokers optionsellers.com in Florida, said sugar has "held up well" despite the sell-off in both the coffee and cocoa markets. Other brokers feel the dollar will dictate sugar's movement and a move up in the greenback will put pressure on the sweetener.
Traders said news of higher sugar imports from India were supportive for the market. Yatin Wadhwana, the head of Sucden India, said the country will import 3.0 to 4.0 million tonnes of raw sugar in 2009-10, higher than trade estimates of 2.5 million tonnes. The market will also be watching how much sugar will be delivered when the July contract goes off the board June 30.
Open interest in the contract was at 131,397 lots as of June 16, down 14,828 lots from the previous session. Technicians put resistance in the October contract at 16.05 and 16.15 cents. They pegged support at 15.50 and 15 cents. Volume traded Tuesday in the No 11 sugar market was 133,611 lots, from the prior 143,488 lots - the exchange said. Open interest in the No 11 sugar market was at 761,633 lots as of June 16, from the prior 787,066 contracts - exchange data.
Comments
Comments are closed.