US cocoa futures slid about 1 percent in pre-holiday trading on Wednesday, with contract switches and currency-related activity making up the bulk of turnover, market sources said.
The New York Board of Trade's active March cocoa contract fell $16 to settle at $1,413 a tonne, after dealing from $1,406 to a new four-week high of $1,446.
May cocoa shed $17 to end at $1,432, and back months lost $16 to $18. "There was size trading in switches today," said a trader, pointing out contract switches between the September 2006 and September 2007 contracts alone made up 3,600 lots of total turnover estimated at 17,903 contracts.
"We also saw a lot arbitrage buying and some origin selling," he said, adding that industry players appeared to be squaring their books ahead of the US Thanksgiving holiday.
NYBOT commodities markets will be closed on Thursday and Friday. Trading will resume at normal hours on Monday. In London, the Life's active March cocoa contract finished down 2.2 percent at 861 pounds a tonne.
A softer dollar versus sterling had fuelled the arbitrage buying here at the start of the session, traders said.
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