CSCE raw sugar futures ended Tuesday near a 10-month high on robust speculative fund buying, fears that rains in Brazil could hinder the harvest and livelier interest in the cash market, analysts said.
CSCE July sugar surged 0.16 cent to settle at 7.22 cents a lb, moving from 6.99 to 7.25 cents. On a spot daily basis, it was the best close for sugar since concluding at 7.28 cents on August 6, 2003. October jumped 0.20 to 7.52 cents. The rest increased 0.08 to 0.12 cent.
James Cordier, a broker for Liberty Trading Group, said a steady barrage of speculative buying kept values buoyant coming out of the holiday weekend and this may augur well for a further advance in the sweetener. The sugar market was shut Monday for US Memorial Day.
July sugar fell 0.10 cent to 20.20 cents a lb while September was flat at 20.47 cents. Except for two contracts, the rest shed 0.01 to 0.06 cent. Final traded volume was at 368 lots against the previous 366 lots.