US spot-month cocoa futures fell to the lowest price in five months on Thursday, pressured by fund selling and contract rollovers ahead of the Good Friday holiday, market sources said.
The New York Board of Trade's cocoa contract for May delivery lost $13, or 0.9 percent, to $1,418 a tonne, the weakest settlement since November 17.
The active July cocoa delivery, which has more open interest than May, tumbled $18 to end at $1,438, and back months shed $16 to $17. "There was very good fund selling in the market today," said a trader, speaking from the NYBOT's cocoa ring.
"The manufacturers were very good buyers, with some arbitrage buying. We saw some pretty good trade buying in the market as well," he added.
Estimated cocoa futures trading volume reached 34,801 contracts, slightly weaker than the 38,729 lots officially tallied the previous session. Non-commercial participants were active, rolling out of the May contract before the April 17 first notice for delivery.
"I think we'll see open interest in the May contract under 5,000 lots on Tuesday," said a trader, adding that open interest was about 12,300 lots following the rolls on Wednesday.
NYBOT markets are closed Friday and will reopen on Monday.
Next week, traders will watch the July contract as the benchmark for the market.
Technically, one trader pegged key technical support in July between $1,430 and $1,400. Resistance was seen at $1,460, and then $1,480. On the supply front, cocoa arrivals in Nigeria's port city of Lagos dipped to about 7,500 tonnes in March, down 6 percent on the same month in 2005, estimates from major exporters said on Thursday.
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