ICE arabica coffee futures settled down a shade on Wednesday, as light speculative selling provided some market pressure, traders said. "I think the ground for all these markets is still a little wobbly and that people are a little hesitant to commit fully to positions after what happened in the markets earlier this month," said Judy Ganes-Chase, of J Ganes Consulting.
"The markets are still jittery," she said. The key arabica contract hit a 3-1/2-month low last week and has since bounced modestly. The benchmark ICE May arabica coffee contract settled down 0.35 cents at $1.323 per lb, moving from $1.306 to $1.3535 cents.
The market trades until 3:15 pm EDT (1915). By 1:59 pm, the May contract was up 0.10 cent at $1.3275. The rest ranged from 0.60 cent lower to 0.95 cent higher. "The market is getting to levels where there's good value. People are a little more relaxed because the Brazilian harvest is just around the corner. There isn't an immediate short-fall in supplies," Ganes-Chase said, referring to the top producer's 2008/09 harvest.
Prices were firm during overnight trade. "The market had a very light volume, the downside volume seems to be a bit more aggressive even though all outside factors remain positive - the weaker dollar, all other commodities that remain steady," one coffee trader said, earlier in the session. Support for the key May contract was pegged at $1.2865, with resistance at $1.3585 and $1.3685.
ICE robusta futures had not traded by 1:58 pm. On the London International Financial Futures Exchange (Liffe), robusta futures finished lower with the Liffe May contract settling down $48 at $2,280 a tonne. On Tuesday, 20,669 arabica futures contracts traded on ICE while open interest inched down 180 lots at 169,494 lots.
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