Cocoa futures rallied nearly 2 percent to a one-month high Thursday, boosted by speculators buying back their short positions and extending new longs amid positive technical signals on the price charts, traders said.
The New York Board of Trade's active cocoa contract for September delivery settled up $28 at $1,537 a tonne, the loftiest since May 19, after trading from $1,521 to $1,539.
"When September started to break above the $1,529 level, there was some stops hit and that just encouraged the funds to start buying," a cocoa trader said, speaking from the NYBOT cocoa ring. Among other contracts, front-month July, which has its first notice for delivery on Monday, rose $29 to end at $1,527. Back month cocoa futures advanced $24 to $26.