Following on from yesterday’s fall/recovery things were remarkably calmer this morning with a small dip to 17.63 being followed by a period of sideways trading in the upper 17.60’s. Little changed for several hours as the quietest day for some time plodded along with March’23 holding within proximity of unchanged while The Oct’22/March’23 was similarly holding a tight band basis the upper 0.50’s. The afternoon brought a little more buying interest into the market although each attempt higher stalled in the vicinity of 17.80 to leave us within yesterdays parameters, though there was some improvement for the spread which pushed out to 0.66 points. Oct’22 open interest showed only a small reduction to 28,779 lots yesterday which suggests we may see a bit more sugar tendered than previously anticipated, today’s volume suggesting a moderate reduction once again based upon the AA volume with recent screen activity having had limited impact. The final stages played out at the upper end of the range with settlement 3 points shy of the highs at 17.77, though overall such an inside day changes nothing for the wider picture.
An incredibly slow morning saw Dec’22 drop back to sit in the $524.00 area, underlying buying interest then holding prices while the market lacked the necessary spark to recover. More buying only emerged as we moved into the afternoon and in the thin environment this quickly enabled the market to push back into the $530.00 area before stalling. This buying continued to support Dec’22 through the rest of the afternoon and widened the Dec’22/March’23 spread out to $38.30, however the 2023 positions were showing no interest in following the move and struggled to pull far clear of unchanged levels. Having recorded a session high at $531.70 the front month remained steady for the rest of the session, though the usual end of day book squaring meant that settlement was shy of this mark at $529.80, bringing a welcome end to an uneventful day.
