Industry buying and the New York market's failure to draw fund activity left London's robusta coffee suspended within the previous session's range, traders said on Tuesday. A late show of strength in New York helped Liffe's benchmark March make a last-minute session high of $725 a tonne before settling flat at $723. The day's low was $716 and turnover reached 2,907 lots. Total volume hit 5,034 lots.
Expectations of a fresh sell-offs by funds in the US persisted but sharp falls were unlikely until New York set off the right technical signals, traders said.
"The fund position still needs to come down a bit....once we start trading a few cents down from here we might get more liquidation but the market hasn't gone far enough to get the funds worried yet," according to one floor source.
"It's had a pull-back from the highs and seems to be having a breather for now while it decides which way to go next," he added.
NYBOT's March contract is about 12 percent down from a high of 107.8 cents reached on December 21 while the same contract in London has shed around 11 percent since a high of $813 on December 2.
London futures are currently being kept afloat by steady scale-down industry buying, particularly on November, according to dealers.
That contract closed flat at $805 amid volume of 724 lots with healthy industry interest seen below the market. May closed firm at $747 on turnover of 1,160 lots.
The New York Board of Trade's most-active March contract was at about 97 cents a lb by London's close, up 1.3 cents after dropping 0.65 cents the previous session on fund sales.
Large investors in New York are believed to have cut their net long position to about 28-30,000 lots after building up an historically high position at the end of last year.
From a technical point of view, Liffe March was now eyeing support at $710 before the psychologically significant $700 level after gently breaking through $720 on Monday.
In New York, dealers are watching for a collapse in support at 92.50 and 90 cents.
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