London sugar futures ended firmer after a choppy Tuesday session featuring trade and speculator buying, spread activity, hedging and producer sales, with the focus still on Indian and Pakistani cash demand, traders said. London March ended up 80 cents at $259.90 a tonne in volume of 2,988 lots after moving between $260.0 and $258.00.
May settled up $1.10 at $268.30 in volume of 1,742 lots after trading from $268.30 to $266.50.
"Today we saw Brazilian sales of the March contract, and Brazilian producer selling of the March-May spread," one trader said in the afternoon.
The whites market turned first negative and then positive in the afternoon after a firm tone throughout the morning due to Against Actuals (a form of hedging) as well as trade and speculator buying, traders said.
Traders noted strong Indian and Pakistani interest for physical raw sugar, but there was no confirmation of deals done.
One Middle East broker talked of a sale by an international merchant of two cargoes totalling 28,000 tonnes of 150 ICUMSA sugar to Yemen for January shipment at a $10 discount to the world price, but there was no confirmation.