NEW YORK, March 8: CSCE world raw sugar futures settled with fractional gains Friday on trade and speculative buying in subdued dealings, with more sideways action expected next week, brokers said.

CSCE May sugar added 0.06 cent to end at 8.22 cents a lb, trading 8.12-8.30 cents. July rose 0.04 to 7.64 cents. Distant months increased 0.06-0.09 cent.

The market is very stale, a senior trading house broker said. You had scale-up trade selling and scale-down trade buying. The market is going sideways.

Futures popped higher at the start as trade and speculative interest hoisted it to its highs, but the trade turned into sellers at the top of the range and pushed the market down, floor dealers said.

Off the lows, minor short-covering led the market back although the volume of activity was distinctly low-key, the traders said.

It was pretty much a non-event, a floor dealer said. The trade pushed it back and the specs joined in.

Analysts said sugar prices may trade sideways for the moment, with some players fretting that a looming war in Iraq may affect the timing of several sugar tenders in the Middle East.

Syria has tendered for 52,000 tons of sugar for April 20-May 20 shipment, Egypt is seeking 40,000 tons of raws and 25,000 tons of whites for March to end-September shipment, and Libya will decide Saturday on the winner among bidders to supply it with 120,000 tons of white sugar.

Technicians put support in the May contract at 7.81/84 cents with resistance at 8.38/45 cents, with 8.59 cents the next target.

Total open interest in the raw sugar market rose 256 lots to 233,254 lots as of March 6.

Final volume stood at around 16,006 lots, from the previous count of 24,387 contracts. Call volume reached 3,516 lots while puts hit 1,859 lots.

Total volume traded reached some 890 lots from the previous tally of 389 lots.—Reuters