Raw sugar prices finished easier Friday on speculative sales as the sweetener probed the bottom of its current range, with operators saying the market would need news to break out of its trading band.
The New York Board of Trade's key March raw sugar contract fell 0.17 cent to end at 11.61 cents a lb, trading from 11.59 to 11.81 cents. May lost 0.15 to 11.54 cents. The rest retreated 0.04 to 0.11 cent.
"We're at the bottom of the range, but we it's been like this the past few days. We'd go to 11.86 (cents) in March one day and then get down to 11.60 the next. We can't seem to get out of this rut right now," a senior floor dealer said.
Sugar prices have staged a robust rally the past few months due to buying by funds controlling large pools of money building long positions in the market. News on the diversion of cane in top grower Brazil to produce ethanol spurred the advance, analysts said.
The market posted a small increase at the start but came under steady pressure from small speculators, which gradually eroded values, dealers said.
Sentiment was also dampened when London white sugar prices slid after the World Trade Organisation ordered the European Union to limit its sugar exports by mid-May.
Technicians said they feel resistance for the March contract would be at 11.86, then contract peak of 11.91 cents. Support would be at 11.60 and 11.50 cents.
Volume traded before the close amounted to 25,129 lots, versus the previous tally of 31,946 contracts. Call volume hit 2,287 contracts and puts stood at 4,229 lots.
Open interest in the No 11 raw sugar market fell 1,143 lots to 472,824 lots as of October 27.
Ethanol futures were not traded. There were no quotes in the spot November ethanol contract.
US domestic sugar prices ended mixed. Dealers said the market will be waiting for further details on losses from Hurricane Wilma to cane farms in Florida, the top sugar producing state in the country.
The January contract fell 0.04 cent to 22.25 cents a lb and March shed 0.03 to 21.80 cents. Two contracts aside, the rest finished unchanged. Volume done before the end of trade hit 142 lots, from the previous tally of 1,464 lots.