Arabica coffee futures settled higher Thursday, driven up by speculative short-covering for the second straight session in a market struggling to pull away from a nine-month low, traders said.
New York Board of Trade's active coffee contract for September delivery rose 0.50 cent to settle at 98.95 cents a lb after trading from 98.50 to 99.80 cents. Front-month July advanced the same to 96.55 cents while the back months gained 0.50 to 0.80 cent.On Wednesday, benchmark September slipped to 97.60 cents, its cheapest since September 26, 2005, and a 26 percent drop from this year's peak of $1.3175.