US MIDDAY: cocoa edges up on thin volumes

Cocoa futures drifted up on speculative buying amid on a dearth of fresh signals and thinly traded volumes, traders said Friday.
"There hasn't been much origin selling pressure, so the specs managed to take this market up a little bit," one trader said.
Another trader said gains were capped by talk of a number of funds still long in the market, which would eventually have to reverse their positions.
On the New York Board of Trade, the most-active December cocoa contract climbed $8 to settle at $1,461 a tonne, after trading in a narrow range from $1,452 to $1,468.
March 2005 likewise settled $8 higher at $1,481, while longer-dated cocoa futures advanced $8 to $9.