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CSCE sugar ends up on late commission-house buying

NEW YORK: CSCE sugar futures settled marginally firmer on Friday due to a late burst of buying by Cargill and other commission-houses in another listless session whose main feature was spreads.

"Cargill did some late buying. The other commission houses did some along with the locals. Otherwise, it was another spread-dominated session," a physical broker said.

May sugar rose 0.06 to end at 5.22 cents a lb, trading 5.26-5.15 cents as the contract closed pretty much where it opened.

July went out 0.08 higher to 5.31 cents and October added 0.05 to 5.70 cents.

Back months were 0.02 cent firmer each.

Sugar popped higher at the onset of business on commission house purchases and then retreated to its session lows after origin sales again capped the market's advance, floor dealers said.

"We got the same trading pattern we've seen the past few days. It's really pathetic," a floor broker said.

Traders said the market continued to creep higher and may have received some encouragement from news that China may need to import up to 500,000 tonnes of sugar in the second half of 2000 due to frost damage in its cane farms, according to Paris-based broker J. Kingsman.

An estimated 20,000-25,000 tonnes of Thai raws were being imported monthly into China for tolling so they could be re-exported to Pakistan, where buying could reach from 300,000 to 500,000 tonnes, Kingsman said.

While physical business would buoy the market, the International Sugar Organisation (ISO) said though that sugar may not be able to fight its way out of its bearish rut just yet.

ISO said preliminary figures show only a small decrease in the global sugar surplus.

"The fundamentals remain distinctly bearish till the end of the cycle in September 2000," it said.

On a technical basis, dealers said they feel short-term resistance in May sugar would be at the 40-day moving average at 5.40 cents. The next level would be 5.50, the area from which the market broke down recently.

They said support should be at 5.00 cents, 4.90, the contract low of 4.84 cents and then 4.50 cents.

Estimated volume reached 13,794 lots, against the previous estimated volume of 12,994 lots.

Call volume touched an estimated 3,395 lots while put volume hit an estimated 1,154 lots.

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