London white sugar futures closed higher on trade and speculative buying on Thursday, and traders talked of brisk physical enquiries. December settled up $5.10 at the day's high of $405.00 per tonne while most active March finished up $2.20 at $365.10.
"End-destination are still buying, and we are seeing less speculative selling pressure today," one trader said, referring to talk of Middle Eastern and North African enquiries.
Traders saw little market impact from news that the Dubai refinery had declared force majeure after a fire earlier this week damaged the conveyor system and storage areas.
COFFEE HIGHER: London robusta coffee futures closed higher on Thursday boosted by fund buying with prices climbing towards the top of its recent range. The key January contract ended up $21 or 1.4 percent at $1,548 a tonne while November finished $12 higher at $1,540.
Total volume was 10,114 lots. "Resistance at $1,550 (on January) is still very strong," said CoffeeNetwork analyst Andrea Thompson, adding producer selling from both Brazil and Vietnam had helped to cap recent rallys in the coffee market.
COCOA HIGHER: London cocoa futures closed higher on Thursday boosted by gains in New York but the market remained comfortably within its recent range. December closed 12 pounds higher at 832 pounds a tonne, near the top of the day's range of 835 to 817. Total volume was 8,593 lots.