US cocoa closed steady to firm on Wednesday, as funds rolled positions out of December into March ahead of the front-month's first notice day November 15, dealers said.
"Some of the longs that were holding their position are starting to shed it and they're dumping it out," one trader said, adding the spreads accounted for more than half of the session's volume by the end of the open-outcry session.
In the pit, the ICE December contract settled flat at $1,945 per tonne, while the rest closed up from $11 to $31. The electronic December contract was up $6 at $1,951, moving from $1,928 to $1,967 at 12:50 pm EDT (1650 GMT). The rest ranged from $10 to $26 higher. "Funds are dumping it out and the trade looks like scale buyers of the December/March spread," a trader said.
Electronic deals in some agricultural commodities trading on ICE experienced some difficulties when technical problems temporarily halted trade in energy futures late in the morning. "I was getting knocked out of my connection. The ICE platform was kicking people out," one cocoa trader said, adding the problem was sporadic and appeared to be resolved.
In London, the Life December contract was unchanged at 961 pounds per tonne, in a trading range from 948 to 969 pounds, at 12:51 pm. The exchange estimated volume around noon at a heavy 3,373 lot compared to the 1,942 lots that traded on the floor on Tuesday when 13,590 contracts traded on the ICE screen.
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