Raw sugar futures finished firmer on Friday on investment fund buying and talk that India is placing inquiries to book some orders in the weeks ahead, brokers said. The market will be closed Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Trading resumes Tuesday. The key March raw sugar contracts climbed 0.30 cent to end at 12.26 cents per lb. Trades ranged from 12.07 to 12.44 cents.
Volume traded in the March contract reached 45,826 lots at 2:10 pm EST (1910 GMT). May sugar rose 0.31 cent to close at 12.55 cents. Analysts said a technically constructive picture and talk that India, which plans to buy less than 1.0 million tonnes of sugar, gave the market a boost. "The Indians are making inquiries," a brokerage house dealer said.
A source of speculation would be what the Chinese, whose main sugar-producing region of Guangxi was hit by a freeze, which may have damaged its cane areas, would do. "That's a chance (they may buy). If they do, that will be a gift (for the market)," a broker said.
Traders said the outlook for sugar was increasingly supportive given the tightening global supply-demand balance into 2010. They said sugar prices may head higher if the March contract closes over 12.50 cents. Technicians put resistance in the March sugar contract around 12.46 cents, then 13 cents, with support at 12 and 11.50 cents.
Volume traded Thursday in the No 11 sugar market reached 134,696 lots - exchange data. Open interest for No 11 sugar market was at 654,931 lots as of January 15, from the previous tally of 648,660 lots. The domestic No 14 sugar market showed the March contract untraded at 2:10 pm.