Modest speculative buying nudges New York coffee to firm finish

NYBOT arabica coffee futures closed with modest gains on Thursday on speculative, and possibly roaster, buying as the trade kept its attention on winter weather in the coffee belt of main producer Brazil, brokers said.
July arabicas rose 0.65 cent to finish at 70.20 cents a lb, dealing from 69.60 cents to 70.50 cents.
Key September added 0.55 cent to 72.10 cents, moving from 71.10 cents to 72.45 cents. Back months gained 0.40 cent to 0.50 cent.
"Its just chugging along, with the specs goosing her up," a long-time broker said. "There's no cold to speak of and all the (cold) fronts seem to be passing south of the (Brazil) coffee belt."
Coffee started unchanged, as expected, and then steadily worked its way higher on speculative buying, brokers said. There may have also been some residual roaster purchases to keep coffee buoyant.
But boredom permeated the futures market because the absence of any cold scare in Brazil meant volatility in the pit was at a minimum, according to analysts.
"Were just going between 70 and 74 cents (basis September). The specs are just jobbing it, so there's no real excitement in the ring," one explained.
On the weather front, Brazilian forecaster Somar said a pair of cold fronts appear headed for southern Brazil toward the end of July, which should lower temperatures in the coffee belt, but no frost seems to be in the cards.
Somar said the first cold front should arrive in the south-east coffee belt of Brazil July 25-27 and the second will build up in Argentina from July 28-29 before passing through Brazils coffee farms.
US forecaster Meteorlogix said weather conditions in the worlds other coffee regions remains good. The weather is favourable in both Colombia and Vietnam, which follow Brazil as the worlds leading growers of coffee.
Separately, dealers said the Green Coffee Associations monthly coffee stocks report should show an increase of 30,000 to 100,000 60-kg bags when the data is released at 3 pm EDT (1900 GMT) on Thursday. As of May 31, the stocks stood at 5,836,471 bags, down 8,979 bags from April.
Technicians see support in the September contract at 72 cents and 71.40 cents, with resistance at 72.10 cents and 72.50 cents.
Final estimated volume reached 9,091 lots, versus Wednesdays count of 7,538 lots. Call volume hit 4,111 lots while puts stood at 1,006 lots. Open interest in the arabica coffee market fell 608 to 88,137 contracts as of July 14.