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CSCE sugar ends tad up, still mired in range

NEW YORK: CSCE sugar futures closed with slight gains on Wednesday on the back of modest speculative interest, but the market remains trapped in a range with little prospect of a breakout any time soon.

"It's a little improvement. The parameters are still in place (in the March contract) -- 5.60 (cents) on the upside and 5.30 on the downside," a physical broker for a trading house here said.

March sugar SBHO went out 0.11 higher to settle at 5.50 cents a lb, trading 5.54-5.42 cents. May gained 0.13 to 5.64 and the rest were 0.11-0.04 cent firmer.

Sugar opened flat and then got a lift from speculative buying which hit light stops, floor sources said. Spread trade also gave the market a boost.

Above 5.50 cents in key March, origin sales from South America and the Far East capped the advance anew in a repetition of the trading pattern seen in the market for the past few weeks, traders said.

"It just can't seem to break out either way," a floor broker said.

Another trader said the market will continue to be range-bound "unless we get some news of a change in (market) fundamentals."

The market has been hammered by lackluster offtake and plentiful supplies. Producer pricing by Thai and Cuban origins has also weighed on sugar futures.

On a wider basis, March sugar is trapped between a small downside gap from 5.19-5.20 cents and an overhead chart gap at 5.62-5.65 cents.

The lower end of that range represents support while the overhead level should mark resistance, dealers said.

Estimated volume traded in the CSCE sugar market reached 16,223 lots against the previous estimated total of 14,590 lots.

Call volume touched an estimated 3,147 lots while put volume reached around 881 lots.-Reuters