NEW YORK, March 15: CSCE world raw sugar futures snapped back from a nine-week low to finish higher Friday on trade and speculative buying, with most operators saying a turn south appears to be still in the cards for the market.

CSCE May sugar was last done at 7.85 cents a lb, up 0.23 cent, while moving from 7.59-7.90 cents.

July gained 0.19 cent to end at 7.40 cents while the back months rose 0.12-0.15 cent.

Futures slipped in early trade on follow-through sales, but trade buying tied in part to news that Libya bought between 78,000 and 103,000 tons of white sugar prompted raw sugar futures to reverse course, floor dealers said.

Speculative players then piled in to enable the market to conclude the day’s business near its highs.

Fundamentally, the market is still facing a surplus in sugar, although the amount is getting smaller as the market must contend with the fact that key grower Brazil would produce more ethanol than sugar at the start of the upcoming season.

I don’t know if the report will matter because I think they plan to liquidate another 30,000 or 40,000 lots. We’ll see, a broker said.

The total open interest in the raw sugar market sank by 6,385 lots to 215,618 lots as of March 13.

Technicians put support in the May contract in the gap from 7.45/55 cents, with 7.00 cents lurking below.

Resistance is at 7.92 cents, an area of former support, then 8.12 cents.

Volume traded just after the market closed reached some 18,810 lots, down from the previous count of 37,973 contracts. Call volume reached 4,191 lots while puts hit 2,518 lots.

US domestic sugar futures ended mostly flat Friday.

May was unchanged at 22.21 cents a lb while July was also steady at 22.30 cents. Except for three contracts, the rest settled flat.

Turnover just after the market concluded business reached 27 lots, down from 156 lots previously. —Reuters