Benchmark cocoa futures shed 1.3 percent on Friday, weakened by active speculative selling and spread trading on the last trading day of the first quarter, market sources said.
The New York Board of Trade's active cocoa contract for May delivery fell $20 to settle at $1,489 a tonne, after trading from $1,481 to $1,506. July lost $17 to end at $1,516 a tonne and back months receded $15 to $22.
"There was a lot of spec selling and spread trading today," a trader said, speaking from the NYBOT's cocoa ring. A rebounding dollar, coupled with sluggish bean values in London, set the bearish tone at the start of trading.
Further selling emerged when the front-month contract fell below the previous session's bottom trade of $1,491, traders said. The trader said 20,936 contracts of cocoa futures had changed hands. That compared with the 12,878 lots tallied the previous session.
"We saw a lot of spread trading today. It looked like the May/July roll took place today probably 3,500-plus lots and that's where the volume went today," said another trader. Non-commercial players not wanting to take physical delivery of cocoa beans will switch their positions ahead of the front month contract's first notice for delivery on April 17.
Elsewhere, the Life's May cocoa contract in London lost 5 pounds to settle at 914 pounds a tonne.
In top cocoa producer Ivory Coast, bean arrivals at the country's ports reached an estimated 907,031 tonnes between October 1 and March 26. That compared with 926,341 tonnes delivered to ports during the same period of the 2004/05 season.
Only 7,025 tonnes arrived at ports March 20-26. Still, the market is gearing up for an estimated 250,000 to 350,000 tonnes of cocoa from Ivory Coast's intermediate crop, which officially starts in April.
Open interest in the NYBOT cocoa futures rose by 1,765 lots on March 30, bringing the total to 128,822 contracts, exchange data showed.
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