NYBOT cocoa futures settled slightly higher in static business on Monday after news of more rebel clashes in Ivory Coast failed to buoy the market, traders said. "The market was very subdued today.
Trade buying ran into some light producer selling, which kept prices held in a tight range," said one floor source.
Most-active September cocoa gained $9 to end the day at $1,351 a tonne, after trading from $1,341 to $1,359 a tonne. July cocoa rose $8 at $1,343 a tonne and back month contract were $5 to $7 firmer at the close.
"The news out of Ivory Coast had no real effect on the market today because it is not disrupting the crop at all," said one broker. Rival rebel factions clashed on Monday after an attempt to assassinate a political leader failed on Sunday, rebel officials said.
One said the rival groups were fighting in the town of Bouake after heavily armed men with four-wheel drive vehicles attacked leader Gallium Sore's convoy on Sunday in Korhongo, another rebel-held town in northern Ivory Coast.
The new fighting highlights the difficulty of peacekeeping efforts in Ivory Coast, where the United Nations and other bodies have been struggling to get President Laurent Gbagbo and his opponents to drop mutual hostility and work together.
Ivory Coast, the world's largest cocoa producer has been split in two since a civil war grew out of a failed coup against President Gbagbo in September 2002. In other news, on Friday's Commitments of Traders report showed the net speculative short position in cocoa eased to 13,364 contracts as of June 15 from 13,917 contracts as of June 8.
Final estimated cocoa futures volume on Monday stood at only 4,386 lots compared with 7,334 lots on Friday. Open interest in the cocoa market gained 559 lots to 96,169 lots as of June 18.
Support in September cocoa stood at $1,320 a tonne, $1,315 and then the contract low of $1,308, with initial resistance pegged at the June 8 peak of $1,400 a tonne.