NYBOT raw sugar futures settled mixed on Tuesday in activity featuring small speculators in subdued business, with the sweetener tipped to drift in a tight band given the dearth of market-moving news, dealers said.
October sugar added 0.01 cent to end at 8.20 cents a lb while dealing from 8.15 to 8.26 cents. It was an inside day since the range was within Mondays 7.99 to 8.27 cents band. March gained the same to 8.70 cents.
The rest lost 0.02 to 0.08 cent. "The markets been consolidating in a very quiet session," an investment house dealer said. The market crawled higher at the start to easily reach its high for the day, but spread-related sales by the trade and then by speculators nudged the sweetener into negative territory, floor sources said.
Market fundamentals are seen by players as gradually turning bullish due to expectations that demand will outpace output in 2004/05, with substantial imports expected from countries like India, the worlds largest consumer of sugar.
Call volume hit 3,121 lots while puts stood at 3,257 lots. Open interest in the No 11 sugar market rose 2,363 to 305,504 lots as of July 26. Ethanol futures ended flat, with September steady at 97.50 cents a gallon.
Open interest was flat at six lots as of July 26. US domestic sugar prices closed mixed.