London benchmark white sugar futures settled weaker on speculator profit-taking on Thursday after briefly touching a $268.00 contract high for a second straight day and then erasing gains, traders said. March closed down $2.10 at $265.40 a tonne in volume of 6,380 lots after trading between $268.0 and $265.10. May ended down $2.10 at $272.70 in volume of 4,577 lots after moving from $275.20 to $272.20.
"We saw spec profit-taking against spec and trade buying today," one trader said. "The surge yesterday may have been overdone."
London March ended just off a contract high of $268.00 on Wednesday after heavy fund and arbitrage buying, and briefly touched that level again on Thursday morning, traders said.
But the London market then consolidated.
Traders noted hefty switch activity in the countdown to the expiry of the March contract on February 11, and expected more rolling of positions in the coming days.