US arabica coffee futures settled down a shade on Thursday, amid light fund and speculative short covering in a rangebound session as the market lacked direction, traders said. "We're trading on both sides of $1.05 (basis July) and we're just lacking direction right now. The market is oversold, which is why we haven't really pushed down.
There haven't been any aggressive sellers," one trader said. The NYBOT open-outcry benchmark July crept 0.35 cent lower to finish at $1.0435, in narrows dealings from $1.0410 to $1.0540.
September lost the same at $1.0720 while the rest ranged from 0.35 to 0.40 cent lower. "We could be trading on both sides of $1.05 here between now and (June) option expiration next on Friday," one dealer said.
The June option trades against the July futures contract. On the ICE New York Board of Trade electronic platform at 1:32 pm. The July contract fell 0.30 cent at $1.0440.
In London, robusta futures settled mildly lower after a quiet session marked by two-sided speculative trading, dealers said. The Liffe benchmark July ended down $4 at $1,581 per tonne, in a trading range from $1,578 to $1,593. NYBOT estimated 2,551 lots traded in open-outcry, compared with the total 10,513 contracts on Wednesday, when 7,644 contracts were dealt on the electronic screen.
Open interest rose by 1,756 to 155,722 lots as of May 2. Options calls volume was estimated at 3,965 lots with puts at 3,074 lots. In industry news, top coffee grower Brazil will auction 40,000 60-kg bags of arabica coffee from government stocks for industry sectors on May 9, said federal Banco do Brasilia, which will manage the electronic sale.
For weather, Brazil will see mostly dry conditions and warm temperatures with the chance of a few light showers through on Tuesday, DTN Meteorlogix said.
Overseas, coffee arrivals at Ivory Coast's ports reached 113,823 tonnes from January 1 to April 15, according to data from the Coffee and Cocoa Bourse (BCC) obtained by Reuters on Thursday. In other news, Starbucks Corp reached an agreement with the Ethiopian government, which could settle a dispute over the trademarking of the nation's coffee beans, according to a joint statement on Thursday.
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