London sugar futures closed little changed on fund buying against producer selling on Tuesday. Front-month October finished at $254.6, down by $0.4 in volume of 1,925 lots. December settled down $0.4 at $254.6 in turnover of 270 lots.
"Funds were buying in London, and in New York at the opening, against producer selling, although activity has since quietened down," one trader said in mid-afternoon trade.
Traders said October futures had failed to break past key resistance at $257.0 and that the market appeared to be overbought.
"Technical factors are driving this market," one broker said.
Sugar merchant ED&F man said in a report dated July 29 that the fund-led rally was expected to continue to underpin values for a while longer, and that higher futures prices dampened physical demand.
Philippine millers and planters sold to a trading firm on Tuesday a total of 30,000 tonnes of raw sugar for export, and are offering about 50,000 tonnes more to interested buyers, a top industry official in the Philippines said.