CIJENE ŠEĆERA NA BURZI U NEW YORKU

CIJENE ŠEĆERA NA BURZI U NEW YORK-U NEW YORK - Šećer br.11 cijene pri zatvaranju burze 15. siječnja 1998. POSLJ OTVA NAJ NAJ ZATVA NAGO EDNJA RANJE VIŠA NIŽA RANJE DBA MAR8 11.17 11.51 11.54 11.15 11.15 11.17 MAY8 11.07 11.37 11.38 11.05 11.05 11.07 JUL8 10.95 11.18 11.19 10.93 10.93 10.94 OCT8 10.92 11.16 11.17 10.92 10.92 10.94 MAR9 10.92 11.13 11.13 10.92 10.92 10.92 MAY9 10.98 11.08 11.08 10.98 10.90 10.91 JUL9 10.90 11.04 11.00 10.90 10.88 10.90 OCT9 10.98 11.00 11.00 10.95 10.86 10.87 CSCE world sugar tumbles on heavy fund selling NEW YORK, Jan 15 (Reuters) - CSCE world sugar prices took a beating Thursday, as concerns that the financial crisis in Asia could undercut demand sparked a massive wave of fund liquidation. The CSCE benchmark March position fell 0.37 cent a lb, or three percent, to 11.17 cents, ending just off the day's low of 11.15 cents. Commodity funds sold the market from the opening bell, driving the March contract through a series of crucial support levels. Sell stops were activated beneath the recent low of 11.46 cents, and then at 11.26, a low from last September. The day's trading volume was huge, at an estimated 59,877 lots. The sharp downturn comes as market participants grow increasingly worried about the economic woes in Asia. The spread of the crisis to Indonesia, a big buyer of Thai sugar, has chipped away at prices in the last week, dealers said. "I think it has to do with a somewhat more negative sentiment because of the anticipated contraction of physical buying by Asian countries," said Prudential Securities analyst Arthur Stevenson. In the last few days, talk that South Korea had sold back a large quantity of Guatemalan raw sugar it had purchased last year added to the bearish tone, some brokers said. But other traders contend that whatever sugar may have been sold back was replaced with less-costly Thai sugar, while the Guatemalan tonnage was sold to buyers in Eastern Europe. "When South Korea made the original purchases, Central American sugar was competitive, but Thai premiums have come down considerably," one trader said. "There would have been more sold back, but a lot of people couldn't get out of their freight contracts." World sugar prices have fallen by about 10 percent since early last month. In that time, speculators have gone from holding a massive net long position of more than 80,000 lots to what many traders said was a net short stance. Commitment of Traders data due out after the close of business on Friday should give some indication of the speculative position, though the figures will only reflect trades through January 13. 161152 MET jan 98