London cocoa prices posted moderate gains on Monday but kept within a two-week range after a session focused mainly on structural dealings, traders said. Liffe July closed five pounds stronger at 822 pounds a tonne on volume of 17,014 lots. Total turnover was 36,486. Friday's low of 803 on July was the weakest price since mid-July following fund pressure and both political and agricultural developments in Ivory Coast. Concern about the West African mid crop and the disruption of exports ahead of elections slated for October in Ivory Coast has faded after better crop weather and a peace deal between warring sides in the world's top cocoa grower.
"The market has just lost momentum," one trader said. "It looks like fears about a deficit were overdone and although anything could still happen in Ivory Coast, the situation looks more optimistic.
"On top of the lack of fundamental triggers, there are no technical signals to draw funds' attention," he added.
May and September both moved about 17,000 lots as market players rolled out of the spot month into positions further forward. The spot contract goes off the board on May 13.
May gained four pounds to 795 and September finished up five at 837.
Brazil's cocoa grind in April totalled 16,009 tonnes, up 4.8 percent from 15,328 tonnes in the same month of 2004, analyst Thomas Hartmann said.
Grindings were 9.6 percent below March's 17,715 tonnes.
COFFEE DOWN: London's robusta coffee fell more than one percent on Monday to finish at session lows after last-minute speculative sellers struggled to find buyers, traders said.
Liffe July robusta futures closed at $1,120 a tonne, down $18, or 1.6 percent. The session high was $1,148, the top price for a second-month contract since January 14, 2000.
Turnover was 5,662 lots, drawn from a total of 8,836.
"It was just selling into a vacuum, there was nothing to hold it up and down it went," one trader said.
The market remained volatile with some dealers and analysts predicting new records from fund-driven gains, particularly as the frost season in Brazil approached.
An estimated net long position held by funds of 40,000 lots might limit investors' buying power in London, though, a second trader said.
Coffee players continued to debate the extent of drought-induced damage to robusta crops in Vietnam.
Weekend scattered showers in Vietnam's parched Central Highlands coffee belt provided some relief to the country's coffee crop two weeks before the rainy season.
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