Raw sugar futures closed sharply higher Friday on speculative fund buying, and the market may post further gains after a holiday break, brokers said. The raw sugar market will be shut Monday in observance of Martin Luther King Jr Day. Business resumes on Tuesday. The New York Board of Trade's March raw sugar contract sprang up 0.11 cent to end at 8.83 cents a lb, trading from 8.75 to 8.84 cents. May sugar rose 0.10 to 9.13 cents. The rest gained 0.01 to 0.08 cent.
Judy Ganes of commodity firm J. Ganes Consulting said a "little bit of fund buying" drove the sweetener north although the key March contract seems pinned in a band from 8.50 to 8.90 cents.
Fundamentally, sugar players feel the prospects are bullish given a supply deficit and stronger consumer buying expected later in the year.