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US cocoa futures settled at a 2-month low on Wednesday after new short positions entered the market and triggered sell-stops, dealers said. "It's new shorts mainly, lack of industry bids," one cocoa trader said. The key ICE May cocoa contract settled down $52 or 2.3 percent at $2,230 per tonne, the weakest settlement for the spot month since January 29.
Trades ranged from $2,217 to $2,300. The market trades until 3:15 pm. By 1:09 pm EDT (1709 GMT), May was down $42 at $2,240. One contract aside, the rest were off $9 to $44. The market hovered around the unchanged level for the bulk of the session, with May/July spreads boosting volume ahead of the front-month's first notice day April 17, before the new selling entered.
The pressure pushed the benchmark contract below the $2,252 support level and triggered sell-stops, pushing it into a wide trading range exceeding $80. "It wasn't able to get above the $2,300 resistance," one dealer said about the May contract.
The technical picture looked weak and some dealers said there were a good chance the market could continue lower on Thursday. Not everyone agreed, however. "Industry is probably trying to bottom-pick. They might get their levels but if you hold above $2,200, could get a bounce," another trader said.
London cocoa also closed lower, with the July contract down 25 pounds at 1,296 pounds per tonne, spanning 1,293 to 1,329 pounds. For ICE volume, a heavy 23,053 cocoa futures contract traded on Tuesday while open interest dropped 3,004 lots to 145,960 lots, according to exchange data.

Copyright Reuters, 2008

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