Sugar #11 Mar ’22
As traders returned from the Christmas and New Year festivities one could have been fooled to believing that there were some hangovers being nursed with a subdued opening period seeing values traded slightly higher though struggling to pull clear of 18.80 basis March’22. Volume was proving to be little better than recent efforts and so it was that participants observed the start of the US day with interest to see whether any inspiration could be found. Despite some small movement the answer came back as a resounding no and values continued broadly sideways, seemingly disregarding the wider macro which was starting the year positively with oil leading the way as fears over the impact of Omicron on consumption decline. We proceeded to move in the opposite direction and match last Thursday’s low mark at 18.62, and while the final couple of hours brought some light buying/short covering at no time did we seem likely to make a move of any significance. A push back up to 18.80 ahead of the close as days traders cleaned out remaining positions soon petered out, all of which left March’22 to settle just a single point higher at 17.75 and end a disappointing session.
Sugar #5 Mar’22
The market commenced the new year by trading a touch lower as values adjusted to movement in the No.11 both yesterday and this morning, however volume was light as we continued the theme of December. There was very little to report as values meandered sideways throughout the morning with hopes that we would see a marked increase in activity with the holiday season now passed clearly proving to be unfounded. A spike up to $500.40 early in the afternoon (fat finger??) caused some odd lots of white premium selling to be matched however the spike was over as quickly as it began with values immediately returning to resume the mundane sideways pattern. There was some increased spread buying during the afternoon as March/May’22 strengthened to hold in the $5 area, though things otherwise continued quietly as March’22 eased back to $492.50 to remain contrarian to the wider macro which was starting the year positively. Some pre close position squaring pulled values away from the lows though settlement at $495.30 feels disappointing in the context of the wider commodity picture.
