US cocoa futures prices slid nearly 2 percent Friday, pressured by accelerated speculative selling when the benchmark contract moved below the previous session's bottom trade, market sources said.
The New York Board of Trade's active December cocoa contract fell $25, or 1.8 percent, to settle at $1,367 a tonne, after trading from $1,363 to $1,389.
Among other cocoa futures, March lost $24 to $1,406, and more distant contracts tumbled $24 to $25. Futures trading volume rose to an estimated 7,346 lots from the previous session's official tally of 6,540 contracts.