Soft commodities largely higher

Soft commodity futures were largely higher on Thursday after European leaders forged a deal to end a two-year long sovereign debt crisis, but most players were wary whether the financial turmoil is over. World stocks surged and the euro jumped to a seven-week top against the dollar in a relief rally on the news.
"Generally speaking, commodities are up because of Europe," said Country Hedging Inc senior analyst Sterling Smith, adding though that if the deal falters "we will step back into soap opera mode and feel the effects" in financial markets. "The softs markets are a little bit up, but it's not a rally because of concerns over whether the deal will put to rest the debt concerns," said Keith Flury, a senior soft commodities analyst with Rabobank.
New York's December arabica coffee futures increased 0.90 cent to finish at $2.346 a lb. London's January robusta contract rose $34 to close at $1,903 a tonne. New York's March raw sugar contract gained 0.51 cent to close at 26.86 cents a lb, but London's December white sugar contract fell $7.60 to end at $714.90 a tonne.
"The lower dollar and Europe manufacturing a Euro printing process to plug the hole in the boat, I guess that helps commodities," said Bill Raffety, said senior analyst for futures brokerage Penson Futures. Sugar's next move is going to be dominated by how much No 2 producer India will export, floods in Thailand, a small crop in top producer/exporter Brazil, and a fall in Russian demand due to a big domestic beet harvest.
For technical players, Smith said the weekly close for the softs complex will be closely watched on Friday to see if the sweetener can sustain an advance in the coming sessions. Cocoa futures ended higher, with US cocoa futures up for the sixth straight day as open interest continued to climb to fresh records, exceeding the typically bigger cocoa market in London for the first time in at least 15 years. New York's December cocoa futures rose $63, or 2.34 percent, to finish at $2,756 per tonne. London's December cocoa contract added 14 pounds to finish at 1,714 pounds a tonne.