NEW YORK: Orange juice futures settled higher on Thursday on speculative short-covering as the market recovered after closing at an 18- month low on Wednesday, but ample supplies still have most players bearish on the market, analysts said.
The plunge on Wednesday made orange juice the biggest loser within the 19-commodity Thomson Reuters-Jefferies CRB index as sellers pressured prices amid a lack of bullish news.
"Juice is trying to put together a day when it doesn't plummet," said The Price Group analyst Jack Scoville. "Consolidation trade is the order of the day at this time."
Key May frozen concentrated orange juice gained 3.15 cents or 2.2 percent to finish at $1.4485 per lb, trading from $1.402 to $1.467.
On Wednesday, the contract finished at $1.417, having touched a session low of $1.3835. It was the lowest close for the spot juice contract since Sept. 3, 2010, according to Thomson Reuters data.
The contract had fallen more than 10 percent in value, but traders expect the market to hold its ground.
The trade continued to monitor near ideal growing weather in Florida, the country's leading citrus producer.
Volume traded on Thursday topped 5,700 lots in late New York trade, more than double the 30-day average, preliminary Thomson Reuters data showed.
Open interest in the market, an indicator of investor exposure, stood at 19,982 lots as of April 11, ICE Futures US data showed.
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