London cocoa futures rose to a fresh 15-month high on speculative buying and switch trading on Wednesday, dealers said. The benchmark September contract settled up 18 pounds, or 2 percent, at 987 pounds a tonne after trading between 991 and 963 pounds. Total volume was 20,731 lots.
"There was spec buying ... There was also a lot of switch trading on the September-December contracts. Funds are trying to roll their long positions," said one dealer.
Earlier in the session, the second-month contract slipped further off an earlier 15-month high of 971 pounds hit on Monday. The dealers said there had been some origin selling in the market.
Spot July rose 14 pounds, or 1.4 percent, to 1,042 pounds, while its premium to September slipped to 55 pounds after trading at about 59 pounds earlier in the day.
Open interest on the contract remained at a relatively high 52,659 lots while volume was 409.
Cocoa arrivals at Ivory Coast's port of San Pedro reached 518,504 tonnes by July 2, according to data from the Coffee and Cocoa Bourse (BCC) obtained by Reuters on Wednesday.
SUGAR NEAR NEW CONTRACT HIGH:
London white sugar futures closed about 4 percent higher and just below an earlier contract peak after a session dominated by fund buying and supported by strong oil prices on Wednesday, traders said.
Benchmark October settled up $18.60 or 4 percent at $488.60 per tonne, after trading from a contract high of $490.00 to $467.00.
August finished up $17.60 at $489.60 per tonne. Total volume was a heavy 15,905 lots.
Strong oil prices gave support, because of the link between oil and sugar cane-based ethanol biofuel.
Ukraine's white sugar stocks will cover domestic needs over the two months to the start of the new 2006/07 season and the country requires no imports, producers said on Wednesday.
COFFEE FALLS:
London robusta coffee futures ended down on Wednesday on speculative selling after hitting a five-month high earlier in the session, dealers said.
The benchmark September contract settled down $4, or 0.3 percent, at $1,300 a tonne after trading between $1,314 and $1,289. Total volume was 16,512 lots.
The second-month contract, which was trading at around $1,318 on February 3, has risen by about 13 percent in the past two weeks. Heavy clouds covered the forested Brazilian coffee area of Minas Gerais state but other regions had clear skies allowing the harvest to race ahead, private forecaster Somar said on Wednesday.
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