A mixed opening period saw May´23 trading between 22.41 and 22.55, still maintaining the general air of positivity near to contract highs despite the macro showing no fresh desire to push head. Soon it was sugar that was beginning to strike out on its own once more however as having pushed to sit just beneath the contract highs at 22.59 the market punched through, setting off a chain of buying from specs and consumers which saw prices remarkably approaching 23c by the end of the morning. With the busier US day to follow there seemed no end to the move, however having touched through to 23.01 there was a let up in the buying which allowed for some profit taking and corrective consolidation to occur. The sentiment remained positive as we progressed through the afternoon, and while there were no fresh highs being recorded the flat price remained comfortable between 22.70/23.00. Though we are only just approaching the start of the official index roll window there was another bumper volume changing hands in the May/Jul´23 spread, where despite ranging from 0.36pts to 0.49 pts on the flat prices swings the price action gravitated back towards 0.40 points at any opportunity. Though there were no fresh developments through the later part of the session, the price action remained near to session highs, and we ended with May´23 looking very strong at 22.95. While the market continues to move increasingly into overbought ground and would benefit from corrective movement, the present cycle of spec buying, and consumer pricing is maintaining the strength and so there may be further technical driven gains seen before any respite is seen.
Following a quiet start to the day the market was soon trending higher once again, defying the wider apathy of the commodity macro to record the umpteenth new contract highs of recent weeks down the board. The pace of movement for May´23 was particularly stunning as aggressive buying emerged for the May/Aug´23 spread (rumours of Indian covering) with the differential spiking all the way to $27.00 before a similarly rapid correction saw it back to $15.00 once the buying had been concluded. Naturally, the flat price surged on this movement with May´23 touching $668.50, while Aug´23 “lagged” in only trading to $643.60. With Aug´23 now taking over as the virtual spot month it was here that we saw the continuation of the move, and unlike May´23 which had set back by several dollars from, its highs there was a steady stream of further gain throughout the day which resulted in an eventual high at $649.60. White premiums too were incredibly buoyant on this action with prices faring better than their No.11 counterparts, Aug/Jul´23 building on its morning high at $149.00 to trade above $153.00 during the afternoon. With buying coming from both specs and consumers there was no let up in the sentiment, not any sign of noteworthy profit taking which meant that prices remained near to the highs as we approached the closing call. Buying maintained into the close to leave May´23 settling at $663.90 and Aug´23 at $646.80 with the current cycle of gains showing no sign of abating just yet while the technical strength dominates.
