March raw sugar settled up 0.11 cent, or 0.7 percent, at 15.37 cents per lb, after reaching the highest since May 26 at 15.46 cents. The spot contract closed the week up 2.7 percent. Dealers said the market continued to be supported by funds scaling back short positions, though the pace of the advance was slowed by producer selling.
"Investor buy backs of their hefty short position are supporting the market," Commonwealth Bank of Australia analyst Tobin Gorey said in a market note. Thursday's rise above the 15.2-cent resistance level attracted further technical buying and prices had the potential to rise further on bullish charts, dealers said. "Another strong close above 15.20 will suggest a test of 15.50 and perhaps 15.82 next week," said Tom Kujawa, co-head of the softs department at Sucden Financial.
The market shrugged off the International Sugar Organization's forecast for a global sugar surplus of 5 million tonnes in 2017-18. March white sugar settled down 10 cents, or 0.03 percent, at $393.80 per tonne. March arabica coffee settled down 2.9 cent, or 2.2 percent, at $1.2725 per lb. It closed the week down 2.8 percent, the poorest weekly performance since late September.
Total arabica futures open interest fell for the eighth straight session on Thursday to 211,242 lots, ICE data showed. Pressure came from selling of the December contract ahead of its first notice day on Tuesday, traders said. January robusta coffee settled down $21, or 1.1 percent, at $1,824 per tonne. March New York cocoa settled down $9, or 0.4 percent, at $2,131 per tonne. The second position closed the week down 3.7 percent, its poorest weekly performance in three months. March London cocoa settled down 11 pounds, or 0.7 percent, at 1,607 pounds per tonne.
Copyright Reuters, 2017