CSCE raw sugar futures ended weakly Wednesday on steady speculative sales, with the sweetener tipped to slip lower as investors go short in the market, brokers said.
May sugar dropped 0.10 cent to finish at 6.06 cents a lb, just a hair above the session low of 6.05 cents. The day's high was at 6.21 cents.
July lost 0.07 to 5.95 cents. Back months ranged from 0.02 cent easier to 0.01 cent firmer.
"We had specs reloading on their short positions today," said James Cordier of Liberty Trading Group.
Floor sources said an initial flurry of speculative fund short-covering enabled sugar to grind higher, but that buying soon petered out.
Technicians said resistance in May was at 6.24 cents, then the gap running from 6.27 cents to 6.37 cents. Support was at 6.00, then in layers down to 5.50 cents.
Final estimated volume reached 24,537 lots, up from the prior tally of 18,754 lots. Call volume touched 3,202 lots while puts hit 1,935 lots. Open interest in the No 11 sugar market fell 353 lots to 243,233 lots as of March 2. Domestic sugar futures ended mostly down Wednesday.