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CSCE sugar finishes shade up in sleepy dealings

NEW YORK: CSCE sugar futures ended marginally firmer Thursday with origin pricing and local sales knocking the market back to near unchanged levels in sleepy dealings.

"I'm barely awake. You had no follow-through either way. People don't have much faith in it. The close here pretty much keeps us in place," a trading house broker said.

March sugar went out a scant 0.01 up to end at 5.41 cents a lb, trading 5.52-5.36 cents. May rose 0.04 to 5.58 cents.

The rest were 0.04-0.05 cent higher, except for October 2001 which gained 0.02 to 6.52 cents.

March sugar futures eased to its lows at the start on light speculative pressure but trade buying and spread dealings powered the contract to touch its intra-day peak, floor sources said.

"The spreads accounted for most of the strength today, but there's good origin selling above 5.50 (cents) and that forced us to back away again," a physical broker said.

Traders said a variety of origins from South America to the Far East still need to price their sugar, which is plainly not constructive for raw sugar futures.

Thailand's rejection of bids at its export tender for 292,000 tonnes of sugar was seen as discouraging because it adds to the already massive stockpile of sugar struggling to find homes in a saturated market burdened by soft demand.

Analysts said the market will likely remain pinned in its current trading range between the recent intra-day nadir of 5.20 cents and the overhead chart gap of 5.62-5.65 cents.

"We need a close above 5.65 (cents) to get some meaning into this market," one said.

Technically, the overhead gap in March sugar of 5.62-5.65 cents represents resistance while support is seen at 5.20 and all the way down to 5.00 cents.

Estimated volume traded reached 25,592 lots against the previous estimated total of 26,482 lots.

Call volume touched an estimated 3,251 lots while put volume reached around 2,209 lots.

The CSCE is a subsidiary of the New York Board of Trade.-Reuters