CSCE cocoa futures closed higher on Wednesday in a dull session marked by sporadic speculative buying as producers and manufacturers were absent from the market, brokers said.
"New York was following the London market on the upside today building on Tuesday's bounce with spec buying and spreads accounting for the volume today," said one broker.
Traders said the market failed to attract much interest from traders off the trading floor or from the trade and producers.
"This market is going to have to go sharply higher or sharply lower to generate some interest.
Otherwise we'll continue to drift," said another broker. The active May cocoa future edged $20 higher to close at $1,513 a tonne with a $1,476 to $1,515 range.
Looking at the longer-term pattern this year one analyst said, "The downtrend in cocoa prices represents the reality of a larger than expected 2003/04 crop."
The spot March cocoa future settled at $1,512 a tonne, up $28 while the back contracts finished $16 to $20 higher.
The May/July switch settled at $4 over, unchanged from Tuesday. Some 350 May/July switches traded from a total of 1,754, traders said.
May/September was also active on Wednesday. On Wednesday there was just 1 delivery notice tendered against March future bringing the cumulative total to a light 648.
Estimated volume increased to 6,855 contracts on Wednesday from the 5,989 contract pace set on Tuesday, but traders said the market dragged and felt heavy.
In the option pit 397 calls and 270 puts traded.
CSCE warehouse stocks of cocoa increased to 1,570,895 60-kg bags on February 25 from 1,537,179 bags on February 24.
Technical analysts pegged support for May at $1,469 and then $1,445, while resistance was seen at $1,515 and $1,523.
CSCE is a subsidiary of the New York Board of Trade.