London cocoa futures touched a fresh five-year peak on renewed fund and speculative buying on Tuesday, while coffee fell on a combination of profit-taking from Monday's 10-1/2-year peaks and origin selling. London white sugar futures surged late after a spurt higher in oil prices but remained just below a recent 15-month high.
London cocoa futures rose on follow-through buying after US futures touched a 24-year peak on Monday, supported by a tight demand/supply balance and concern about the impact of dry weather on mid-crop production in top producer Ivory Coast.
Soft commodities have attracted hefty fund and speculative buying as managed money has shifted out of poorly performing equities in search of higher returns elsewhere. "The manner in which the market settled (on Monday) gives hope that the bull train shows little in the way of running out of steam," a cocoa broker said. London May cocoa touched a five-year peak of 1,353 pounds per tonne before easing back slightly to close at 1,344 pounds, up 14 or one percent in modest volume of 5,196 lots.
London benchmark May coffee futures drew breath after a startling rally to a fresh 10-1/2-year high of 2,610 pounds on fund and speculative buying on Monday. Dealers noted origin selling and profit taking, but said the market could soon test new peaks.
"It is a combination of some profit-taking and origin selling, and there is not so much fund buying around. It is having a breather by the looks of it but for how long I don't know," one dealer said. May settled down $37 to $2,545 per tonne in reasonable volume of 10,411 lots.
London white sugar futures rose in a flurry of late speculative buying coinciding with surging oil prices and the CRB commodities index peaking at a record high, but remained just below recent 15-month peaks. Key resistance in May white sugar futures remained below the February 21 high of $383.80 per tonne. May settled up $5.70 at $381.70 per tonne in moderate volume of 3,343 lots.