NY juice finishes higher as rebound extended

NEW YORK: Orange juice futures closed firmer Friday on follow-through investor buying as the market extended its recovery from a fall mid-week to a 4-1/2 month low, analysts said.

The key September frozen concentrated orange juice futures increased 2.65 cents to close at $1.665 per lb, moving from $1.617 to $1.6725. On the week, the market is down 8.09 percent.

On Wednesday, the contract settled at $1.5885 in the lowest finish for the spot juice contract since March 22.

Since the spot contract traded at a session peak of $2.048 on July 11, the market has lost 22.56 percent in value when it traded at its session low on Wednesday.

Investors have fled and this could be seen in market open interest which dropped to its lowest level since April 13 at 27,212 lots as of Aug. 11, ICE Futures US data reported.

Volume was around 4,300 lots at 1:49 p.m. EDT (1749 GMT), almost double the 30-day norm, Thomson Reuters data showed.

"Some folks got ... maybe too short they wanted to square up going into the weekend," said Bill Raffety, an analyst for commodities brokerage Penson Futures in New York.

The market is still in the middle of hurricane season and "there are some thing developing out there" referring to possible areas in the Caribbean that could develop into a tropical system, Raffety said.

Traders said the market is also awaiting release early next week of the first private estimates in the upcoming 2011/12 Florida citrus crop.

Forecaster Elizabeth Steger is said to be releasing her report and she will be followed almost immediately by major trade house Louis Dreyfus.

Volume traded Thursday in the juice market hit 5,426 lots, versus the previous tally of 10,827 lots which is the highest since June 21, ICE Futures US data showed.

Copyright Reuters, 2011