London cocoa futures ended down on Friday on technical selling after the previous session's rally that pushed prices to a seven-week continuation high, traders said.
Prices jumped almost eight percent at one point on Thursday and hit a seven-week peak at 851 pounds per tonne as speculators covered short positions.
Benchmark July closed 25 pounds down 810 pounds a tonne on 3,884 lots out of a total turnover of 7,281, moving between 838 and 795.
July hit a 30-month continuation low at 771 on Monday.
Second month September fell 24 pounds to end at 822, having moved 1,576 lots in an 849-807 range.
Large crops in top producers this season have helped to keep cocoa futures depressed.
Credit Lyonnais Rouse said on Friday Ivory Coast cocoa output should hold steady during the current mid crop (April-Sept) and the 2004/05 main harvest (Oct-March) after a hefty main crop this season.
Good weather indicated a mid crop of around 280,000 tonnes, against 270,000 last season.
It put the 2004/05 main crop at 1.10 million tonnes, against an estimated 1.12 million in 2003/04, but said a resumption of Ivorian hostilities remained a possibility and that current prices would not provide incentive to guarantee the movement of beans to the ports.
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