Raw sugar prices ended higher on Monday on light trade buying and some analysts feel the market's recent fall to six-week lows caused by fund liquidation appears to be stalling. New York Board of Trade October raw sugar added 0.15 cent to conclude at 14.91 cents per lb, trading from 14.74 to 14.95 cents. March gained 0.14 to 15.36 cents and the rest rose 0.14 to 0.22 cent.
"The liquidation is mostly over," said James Cordier of Liberty Trading Group. "We see the market heading higher throughout the week, mainly on commercial buying and export business, which should probably stem from the lower prices (seen) in the last two weeks." Another dealer said the market would need to sustain its rise away from technical targets at lower levels.
"If we stay within this range then sooner or later we'll take another step lower," he said. "If we can get above 15 or 15.10 (cents, basis October), we might see some short-covering."
Also driving the market is a current excess of available sugar and a lack of consumer demand, the analyst explained. Technicians pegged support for the October contract at 14.72 cents, with resistance at 14.97 and 15.20 cents.
"I think we're going to rally to that high this week," Cordier said. "We were bearish in the market, but all the weak hands are out now." Final estimated volume reached 27,276 lots, against the previous 36,458 contracts. Call volume touched 7,094 lots and puts hit 2,794 lots. Open interest in the No 11 raw sugar market rose 1,201 lots to 467,478 lots as of July 28.
The ethanol market was untraded. US domestic sugar prices ended mostly higher. September eased 0.05 cent to 20.70 cents per lb while November rose 0.15 to 21.15 cents. The rest were flat to up 0.15 cent. Final estimated deals in the market touched 116 lots, up from Friday's official 1,294 lots.