Raw sugar futures settled easier Thursday on investor profit-taking, and the market may slip further as part of a correction although underlying demand may limit losses, brokers said. The key October raw sugar contract fell 0.17 cent to finish at 17.58 cents per lb.
The contract ranged between 17.40 and 17.82 cents. Volume traded in the October contract stood at 32,411 lots at 2:01 pm EDT (1801 GMT). March sugar lost 0.17 cent as well to conclude at 18.57 cents. "It's profit-taking before a holiday," said Jack Scoville, analyst for brokers the Price Group in Chicago.
The market is shut Friday for a holiday. Trading resumes on Monday. Weak outside markets and the firm dollar also put pressure on sugar - dealers. "We could go all the way back to 16.80 (cents, basis September) but if it wants to run (up) it will do so," said Scoville. He said delivery of 26,783 lots, or over 1.3 million tonnes, to a trade house believed to be Cargill meant they have confidence in finding a customer for the material.
A supportive factor for the market is news that India's Meteorological Department said its monsoon rains for the week ended July 1 were 29 percent below normal. India's Shakti Sugar said it plans to import 225,000 tonnes of raw sugar in the year to September. Sudan bought 75,000 tonnes of white sugar, trade sources in London said. Open interest in the No 11 sugar market was at 718,548 lots as of July 1, from the prior 743,415 contracts - exchange data.
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