US cocoa futures closed down on Wednesday, on pressure from speculative long liquidation and the weak London market, traders said. "We feel there might have been a little origin pressure on the market today," one trader said.
The New York Board of Trade spot-month July contract slipped $23 to close near the session low at $1,925, in dealings from $1,921 to $1,940. Key September futures fell 1.6 percent, or $32 to $1,918, trading from $1,911 to $1,950. The rest ended $33 lower.
"My guess is industry is buying into these levels and probably some of the larger funds are taking advantage of the $50 pull-back off the highs and doing a little bit of buying in there," the trader said
The September contract trading on the IntercontinentalExchange NYBOT electronic platform was down $25 at $1,925, at 12:59 pm. The rest ranged from $15 to $36 lower. Electronic trading ends at 3:15 pm. The Liffe benchmark September cocoa futures contract dropped 2 percent, or 21 pounds, settling at 1,050 pounds after trades spanned 1,043 pounds to 1,069 pounds.
"I think it probably will continue downward for another day or so, maybe get September underneath $1,900, but I don't think that will last too long. I think the market still has some upside potential, just have to suffer through some of this short-term weakness," one NYBOT broker said.
Position rolling out of September into December helped to boost the volume, dealers said. The New York Board of Trade estimated open-outcry volume around noon at 4,386 lots, with traders pegging electronic volume at 7,212 lots by 12:15 pm EDT. This compares with the 971 contracts that traded in open-outcry on Tuesday, when 10,633 contracts traded on the ICE electronic platform. Open interest inched up 966 lots to 142,795 as of June 19.
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