Raw sugar futures settled mostly easier on Monday on speculative fund sales but trade and consumer buying pared those losses, with brokers saying the sweetener may deal in a band this week. Open-outcry New York Board of Trade May raw sugar ended off 0.04 cent at 10.22 cents per lb after trading 10.11 to 10.32 cents.
It was the lowest close for sugar on a spot basis since 10.12 cents on February 7. July eased 0.02 to 10.15 cents and the rest ranged from 0.03 cent firmer to 0.01 cent softer. On the IntercontinenalExchange NYBOT electronic platform for sugar, its May contract slipped 0.01 to 10.25 cents at 1:21 pm EDT (1521 GMT).
"The specs and the funds kept leaning on it, but we've got Russian and trade buying below. I think it's in a range and will probably stay that way," a brokerage house dealer said, adding key May seems trapped between 10.10 and 10.50 cents.
Market fundamentals over the long-term continue to be clouded by the prospect of bumper crops in leading producer Brazil and top consumer India. This prompted analyst FO Licht to predict that prices may slide below 10 cents in the months ahead. Futures were mixed at the start and then came under pressure from speculative fund accounts to knock it to its lows for the session, traders said.
"The trade ran in at that point and brought us back to near unchanged. It was very much a dead duck though," one said. Technicians put support for May delivery in open-outcry at 10.07 and 10 cents, with resistance at 10.58 and up to 11 cents.
Open interest in the No 11 raw sugar market rose 3,444 lots to 654,969 contracts as of March 16. Volume traded around noon stood at 21,647 lots versus on Friday's open-outcry count of 41,576 lots. Call volume was 11,235 lots and puts 5,327 lots. NYBOT said on Friday's electronic volume was at 74,586 lots and total volume amounted to 116,162 lots.
Ethanol futures showed no deals done. US domestic sugar prices ended mixed. The May contract added 0.05 cent to 20.75 cents per lb and July gained 0.01 to 20.68 cents. The rest ranged from 0.07 cent higher to 0.12 cent lower. The electronic No 14 sugar market saw its May contract gain 0.05 cent to 20.75 cents at 1:22 pm.