Arabica coffee futures buckled Wednesday, closing down 2 percent on long liquidation after nudging up to a nine-week high, ending the first quarter little changed, traders said. The market will shut on Good Friday and will reopen for regular trade on Monday.
May arabica coffee futures dropped 2.80 cents to finish at $1.3615 per lb. Trading range from $1.3470 to $1.3905, the highest intraday level since January 26. May volume at a heavy 17,655 lots by 1:55 pm EDT (1755 GMT). Much of the long-liquidation, which triggered automatic stop orders, was due to month-end and quarter-end position squaring - traders. The market ignored the weak dollar, prompting some dealers to not that the correlation between the two market was weakening - traders.