Raw sugar futures relied on trade and consumer buying to close higher on Friday as the market rebounded after falling to an 8-week low in the previous session, brokers said. The New York Board of Trade's March raw sugar contract rose 0.15 cent to settle at 11.37 cents per lb, trading from 11.27 to 11.52 cents.
On Thursday, the contract ended at 11.22 cents in the lowest close for sugar on a spot basis since settling at 11.13 cents on October 13. May add 0.10 to 11.42 cents. The rest gained 0.04 to 0.08 cent. "I see more demand coming into the market and this should help us stabilise. But the next move will depend on the commodity funds that have been selling it off. If they want to test 11 (cents in March) next week, they can do so," a brokerage house trader said.
Fundamentally, most analysts feel sugar will continue to struggle after several growers planted more cane following the rally in the market to a 25-year high in February. Volume before the close hit 46,683 lots, from the prior count of 94,247 lots. Call volume amounted to 7,014 lots and puts hit 2,926 lots.
Open interest in the No 11 raw sugar market rose 2,734 to 554,808 lots as of December 7. No deals were done in the ethanol mad 50 lots, from the previous count of 375 lots.