Sugar ? . . . . . . . . . . .
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DJ Nybot Sugar Review: Down But Pares Drop To 9-Mo Low
NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--World raw sugar futures ended weaker on the New York
Board of Trade Friday but pared an early slide to nine-month lows. Funds shed
the spot month before it goes off the board in three weeks and also sold July.
Funds sold the May/July switch in rollovers while the trade bought the
spread.
May settled down 7 points at 8.08 cents a pound and July lost 6 points to
8.22c.
"Funds and speculators were liquidating and going short, and locals sold," a
floor broker said. "The trade was buying scale-down, however, and May held
8.02c on the downside."
The front month recovered and briefly reached higher ground, only to run into
more selling.
"Unless physical activity picks up, we could go lower next week," the floor
broker said.
Funds and small speculators combined were net short 30,000 lots on the close,
a desk trader calculated.
The May/July spread worked at 11 to 14 points and settled at 14 points,
versus 15 points on Thursday.
Some 1,963 against actuals were posted in May, 72 in July and 247 in October.
Futures volume was estimated at 69,158 lots. In the options ring, 14,154 calls
and 8,361 puts traded.
"A bunch of funds sold the open and reopen," a desk manager said. "The trade
was buying, there was end-user pricing and the market retraced with short
covering. A lot of the day's volume was new shorts, however. I haven't heard
any physical news."
The London May contract expired Friday. Nybot May goes off the board on April
29.
In Brazil, ships have been named to handle 800,350 tons of sugar over the
next month, versus 831,325 tons in last week's report, Williams Brazil agency
said Thursday. At Santos port 420,700 tons are to be shipped, and at Maceio
port, 189,600 tons.
Growers in Brazil's center-south are harvesting an expected record crop.
Domestic and foreign demand for the region's sugar and ethanol is robust,
however.
The European Union Commission licensed exports for 82,250 tons of sugar in
Thursday's tender.
Russia produced 842,400 tons of refined sugar from imported raws from Jan. 1
to April 13, against 877,300 tons in the year-earlier period, producers
association Rossakhar said Friday. Imported raws were processed by 15
refineries, versus 11 refineries last year.
The CRB Futures Index slipped Friday as did the dollar.
May open interest shrank 2,549 lots Thursday to 64,112 lots while July
interest grew 4,308 lots to 166,338 lots. Total interest rose 3,182 lots to
347,942 lots.
Nybot May finds support at 8.02, 8.00, 7.98, 7.95-7.94 cents and 7.92 cents.
May faces resistance at 8.17, 8.20, 8.22, 8.25 and 8.27 cents.
Nybot Change Range Liffe Change
May 8.08 dn 0.07 8.02-8.16 May 246.10 dn 0.90
July 8.22 dn 0.06 8.13-8.29 Aug 240.40 dn 0.60
-By Susan Buchanan, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-5950;
susan.buchanan@dowjones.com
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