US arabica coffee finished mostly lower on Thursday, on pressure from the robusta market while position rolling ahead of the front month's first notice day June 21 accounted for about 70 percent of the session's volume, traders said.
"New York is following London, although London started falling a little bit more than New York today," one broker said. NYBOT open-outcry July coffee closed up 0.15 cent at $1.1475 a lb, in dealings from $1.1390 to $1.1585. Benchmark September futures inched down 0.20 cent to finish at $1.1720 a lb, trading from $1.1650 to $1.1870. One contract aside, the rest closed from 0.25 to 0.50 cent weaker.
On the ICE New York Board of Trade electronic platform at 2:02 pm EDT (1802 GMT), September coffee was 0.35 cent lower at $1.1705 a lb. Robusta coffee futures in London consolidated lower on profit-taking after its recent advance to a nine-year high, dealers said.
The Liffe September coffee closed down $32 at $1,868, in dealings from $1,860 to $1,911. "When it (London) came off New York held a little bit, mostly because of the July/September spread that got very strong. Funds buying the July/September took the spread to 2.30 (cents), which is very tight," one dealer said.
NYBOT estimated 6,585 lots traded in New York open-outcry around noon, with traders estimating 26,000 contracts had traded on the screen by 1:45 pm EDT. This compares to the 11,835 lots officially tallied in pit trade on Wednesday, when 32,812 traded on the ICE electronic platform.
As of June 13, open interest dropped slightly by 108 lots to 161,695 contracts. For weather in top coffee producer Brazil, mostly dry conditions and near to above-normal temperatures will continue through Tuesday, DTN Meteorlogix said.