CSCE raw sugar futures closed unchanged Thursday as speculative buying ran smack into Thai producer selling and operators said the market needs to race past technical barriers soon.
CSCE March sugar ended steady at 5.87 cents a lb, moving from 5.80-5.93 cents. May was flat at 6.05 cents. Except for one contract, the rest slipped 0.01 to 0.03 cent.
"Every time it sticks its head out of the water, there's a lot of sugar for sale," said James Cordier of Liberty Trading Group.
The market opened flat, worked its way up on speculative buying but then ran into heavy sales by Thai and Brazilian exporters, floor sources said.
Technicians said resistance in the March sugar contract would be at 6.00 and then the gap running from 6.07/10 cents. Support was forecast at 5.73, 5.66 and then 5.50 cents.
Final estimated volume reached 25,262 lots, from the previous 38,615 lots. Call volume was at 4,828 lots and puts stood at 2,476 lots. Open interest in the No. 11 sugar market rose 2,160 lots to 260,418 lots as of January 28.