CIJENE ŠEĆERA

CIJENE ŠEĆERA NEW YORK - Šećer br.11 cijene pri zatvaranju burze 18. veljače 1998. POSLJ OTVA NAJ NAJ ZATVA NAGO EDNJA RANJE VIŠA NIŽA RANJE DBA MAR8 10.58 10.65 10.68 10.48 10.57 10.58 MAY8 10.32 10.30 10.35 10.14 10.29 10.31 JUL8 10.18 10.14 10.19 10.07 10.17 10.18 OCT8 10.33 10.28 10.33 10.20 10.30 10.32 MAR9 10.49 10.43 10.48 10.43 10.49 10.49 MAY9 10.47 10.45 10.47 10.45 10.48 10.48 JUL9 10.47 10.45 10.47 10.45 10.46 10.46 OCT9 10.45 10.46 10.48 10.45 10.42 10.43 CSCE world sugar ends down but above early lows NEW YORK, Feb 18 (Reuters) - CSCE world sugar prices ended lower for the fourth consecutive session Wednesday amid heavy selling on the part of commodity funds. Benchmark May futures finished down 0.17 cent at 10.31 cents a lb after falling to a new contract low of 10.14 cents at one point during the session. Front-month March, which expires at the end of next week, ended down the same at 10.58 cents. Persistent selling by the funds drove prices down sharply early in the day following a broad downturn on the London white sugar market overnight. Once the New York market made new contract lows, however, the trade stepped in to snap up bargains, helping to halve the day's losses by the close. While there was no one development that spurred the market lower, dealers said growing concerns that economic instability in Asia would curb consumer demand in the region weighed heavily on sentiment. Raw sugar prices have fallen by more than two cents per lb, or nearly 18 percent, in the past two-and-a-half months as the scope of the Asian crisis became apparent. What is more, there has been little in the way of buying interest from other end-users to stem the losses, said Judith Ganes, an analyst with Merrill Lynch. "Part of it is that there hasn't been physical offtake," she said. "I would have expected to see more demand kick in at these levels." Traders said Russian end-users, hampered by difficulties in securing financing at home, have scaled back their buying in recent weeks, further eroding market sentiment. "Everyday we're hearing more and more about supplies from Brazil, and there nowhere to send the sugar," one trader said. The weaker tone has prompted long holders to liquidate spot positions ahead of March's expiration next week, dragging the back months lower in tandem, dealers said. Technically, a gap created at today's opening at 10.46-10.35 in May represented an important overhead target, while support was seen at today's new contract low. The day's trading volume was heavy at an estimated 34,524 lots. 191201 MET feb 98