US benchmark cocoa futures prices rose two percent to a 3-1/2-month high on Thursday on fund and speculative buying amid light producer sales and bullish technical signals on the price charts, traders said.
The New York Board of Trade's active March cocoa contract climbed $32 to settle at $1,501 a tonne, the highest since September 12, when it ended at $1,516.
"There was some good fund buying in the market today above $1,482, and then again above the $1,497 level. It looks like the manufacturers were chasing the market up as well," a trader said. "It's just a technical bounce." "There was just a lack of selling," said another trader.
Among other cocoa futures contracts, May gained $29 to end at $1,520 a tonne, while back months advanced $24 to $30.
Trading volume reached an estimated 11,942 lots, well above the 4,030 contracts officially tallied the previous session.
In London, the Liffe's benchmark March contract ended at 912 pounds a tonne, up 1.8 percent.