London cocoa futures traded in a tight range on Tuesday, pushed down by speculative selling to a fresh six-month contract low at one point but propped up by industry buying, traders said. Liffe's front month March contract ended steady at 818 pounds per tonne. The contract drew trade of 9,533 lots out of a total of 14,915.
The price ranged from a high of 824 pounds to 812, the weakest level since July 6, when the contract hit 802.
"Specs have been liquidating in New York," a London-based trader said. "Industry has been buying at this level, too."
Traders said the market was little concerned by fundamental news that Ivory Coast's main opposition alliance accused President Laurent Gbagbo of preparing to resume the civil war that split the world's largest cocoa producer in 2002.
Instead traders said uncertainty over the Dow Jones AIG Commodity Index dropping cocoa by Friday was driving prices. Some funds mirror the index and they were expected to drop cocoa contracts along with the fund.
However, a London-based analyst said fundamentals were slightly more positive in the medium to long term."
London's front-month has lost 20 percent since violence in Ivory Coast last year prompted a speculative rally to the November 11 peak of 1,021 pounds.
SUGAR ENDS FLAT:
London sugar futures ended little changed with the market focused on talk of Indian buying of physical sugar, traders said.
Liffe March closed at $255.9 a tonne, up 0.2 percent, in volume of 2,146 lots.
May gained a similar amount to settle at $266.4 in volume of 486 lots.
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