New York cocoa slips

US open-outcry cocoa futures settled lower on profit-taking on Monday after light speculative support briefly buoyed prices to a 4-1/4-year high for the fifth straight day, dealers said. "We just saw light volume up their and no real conviction by the bulls so the market just drifted lower," one trader said.
Profit-taking from the "war premium" rally that pushed prices sharply higher on Friday following a rocket attack on the new prime minister in top producer Ivory Coast triggered sell stops and pushed prices lower, another dealer said.
The New York Board of Trade benchmark September contract fell $11, closing at $2,051 after trading in a range from $2,040 to $2,080, a high last seen March 2003 basis second-month.
The rest ranged from $11 to $14 lower. The September contract trading on the IntercontinentalExchange NYBOT electronic platform was down $10 at $2,052, at 12:55 pm EDT (1655 GMT), moving from $2,041 to $2,078.
One contract aside, the rest were down $1 to $24. Electronic trading ends at 3:15 pm In London, the Liffe September contract slid 16 pounds to close near the session low at 1,097 pounds after trades spanned from 1,093 pounds to 1,122 pounds, a four-year high for the second month. The rest finished down 9 to 30 pounds.
The rocket attack on Ivory Coast's Prime Minister has shaken the West African State's fledgling peace process but his rebel movement and the president vowed on Saturday to carry on reuniting the war-divided state.
A rocket hit the plane of premier Gallium Soro, who also leads New Forces rebels controlling the north of the world's top cocoa grower after a 2002-03 civil war, as it touched down in the main rebel city, Bookie, on Friday, killing four aides.
Also in the No 1 producer, cocoa arrivals at ports in Ivory Coast from October 1 to July 1 reached around 1,138,000 tonnes compared with 1,269,334 tonnes received in the same period a year, according to an estimate by exporters on Monday.
Regular rains falling in Ivory Coast's main cocoa growing zones over the last few months persisted throughout last week, helping to pave the way for a plentiful harvest, farmers said on Monday.
NYBOT estimated open-outcry volume around noon at 1,689 lots, compared to the 2,539 contracts that traded in open-outcry on Friday, when 10,209 contracts traded on the ICE electronic platform.