Raw sugar futures crawled up in early deals Tuesday on modest buying by speculators and investment funds in fairly subdued business, brokers said. The ICE Futures electronic March sugar contract rose 0.07 cent to the session peak at 9.78 cents per lb at 9:14 am EST (1409 GMT), with the day's low at 9.71 cents.
Distant months gained 0.01 to 0.05 cent. "The funds were early buyers, but it's not really going gangbusters. We look range-bound," a floor dealer for a trading house said. Open-outcry volume at 9 am on Tuesday was 2,882 lots, with screen business in the March contract 6,227 lots at 9:16 am Open-outcry volume Monday was at 7,628 lots and screen trade hit 47,929 lots.