Sugar #11 Mar ’22
There have been very few glimmers of hope for longs during recent sessions so they would have welcomed the buying which saw prices move positively during the early part of the day, extending March’22 back up to 18.44. Consolidation followed either side of 18.40 however proving unable to find the impetus to claw back above the former 18.46 support level prices then began to slide once more with a slow retreat to overnight levels in the following hours. The afternoon did not bring any significant increase in volumes which were again disappointing, particularly in context of the sizable trading range, however with smaller traders happy to again push from the short side the March’22 contract pushed through 18.15 to record another new recent low mark at 17.99. The spreads saw a little more movement than recent days with March/May’22 ranging between 0.21 pts and 0.29 pts, however most of the day was spent to the middle/upper end of this band despite the ongoing flat price struggles. Having quickly rejected the look beneath 18c the final part of the day was spent holding in the low 18’s on low value with some traders happy to close out exposure ahead of the COT report and the weekend. With the technical picture remaining weak it was no surprise that MOV selling emerged to ensure a low settlement at 18.05, concluding a poor start to the year.
Sugar #5 Mar’22
For a change we saw some positivity in the market this morning with a firmer opening maintained over the course of the first two hours of trading. Most of the buying interest seemed to be a combination of fresh physical activity being hedged alongside ongoing consumer pricing but with little selling in place and a supportive macro picture there was little reason to pish against it. Notwithstanding this factor we did start to ease back again by late morning once the buying dried up, not so much through selling but more so on sentiment once there was no reason not to. For the second time in a few days we saw a very brief spike higher during the early afternoon (could it be a deliberate ploy rather than another fat finger – if so it is a strange one) however that was merely a blip within the trend which was continuing down and extended the current move further into the support area to record a $484.00 low. The pressure eased during the final couple of hours which allowed the market to breathe a little, while also helping to maintain the recent strengthening of the March/May’22 spread as it held above $6. MOC selling sent March’22 back slightly to settle at and while support remains down to $482.50 the technical picture is looking a little more fragile.
