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CSCE cocoa dips on late speculative selling

NEW YORK: CSCE cocoa futures fell back further on Tuesday when a late speculative liquidation took prices back into negative territory, in thin transactions, traders and brokers said.

Active March settled down $6 at $838 a tonne after trading $846-$835. May shed $7 to $868 and back months lost $6-$7.

Bean prices opened lower, with speculative selling hitting the market in early trading, spending a quiet day stuck in a range, with industry type buying at the lows, brokers said.

"Speculators were good sellers on the reopen -- that set the tone for the day -- then we kind of stabilised and saw some manufacturer type buying on the early dip," one trader said.

"We then went nowhere and did nothing all afternoon until the specs came back with another sell-off."

Futures saw lackluster activity as many floor traders were unable to come in to work due to heavy snow in the area, dealers said.

"It's (market) not going anywhere. It's just sort of turning on itself," one trader said.

Traders said they were looking out for updated arrivals figures of cocoa beans in top producer Ivory Coast's ports.

Cumulative arrivals of 1999/2000 cocoa beans topped 700,000 tonnes as of Jan. 16, although some sources said the figure could be closer to the 1998/99 season running tally of around 754,000 tonnes.

In other news, Ivory Coast's military junta has pledged to hold elections by the end of October to return the West African nation to democratic rule.

Former colonial ruler France, which had suspended some aid to its key African trading partner after a military coup on Christmas Eve, immediately welcomed the decision.

London's LIFFE nearby cocoa ended mixed on Tuesday, though trading at the day's highs as players continued to switch contracts. Key March ended one pound lower at 566 pounds a tonne, whilst May gained one to 598 pounds a tonne.

Technically, chartists pegged nearby resistance for March at $865, with nearby support at $824-20, then all the way down to $804-800.

Volume was an estimated 5,040 lots against Monday's official tally of 8,499 lots.-Reuters