Cocoa falls in late-day selling spree, sugar drops
By Marcy Nicholson and David Brough NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) - Cocoa futures fell on Friday after a flurry of late-day selling pushed prices down more than 1 percent, while sugar corrected down from the previous session's five-week high as the U.S. dollar turned higher and added pressure. Coffee futures steadied. The cocoa markets had been little changed for most of the session, largely shrugging off weaker North American cocoa grind data, but fell quickly in the day's heaviest volume during the settlement window, accelerated by technical sell signals. "It looked like the bears (were) trying to knock it down," one veteran cocoa dealer said. New York cocoa extended losses after falling through the 50-day and 100-day moving averages, and the 50 percent Fibonacci retracement from the March high. New York July cocoa settled down $33, or 1.1 percent, at $2,841 a tonne, but closed higher for the third straight week. Total open interest fell for the seventh straight day to 193,690 lots, the lowest since Feb. 19, exchange data showed. Capital Economics said in a note that the weak grind data supported its expectation for lower cocoa prices, forecasting New York cocoa will drop to $2,650 per tonne by the end of the year. July London cocoa ended down 23 pounds, or 1.2 percent, at 1,959 pounds a tonne. Sugar futures dipped on chart-based selling as the raws fell below their 50-day moving average, along with pressure from the firmer dollar. "Rains in Brazil are bearish for the crop, as they will support yields," Rabobank commodity analyst Tracey Allen said, about the world's biggest grower. May raw sugar finished down 0.19 cent, or 1.4 percent, at 13.24 cents a lb, after open interest dropped by just 12,505 lots to 156,171 lots on Thursday, still a large amount ahead of expiry at the end of the month. It closed higher for the third straight week. Most-active July ended down 1 percent at 13.18 cents per lb. London August white sugar closed down $5, or 1.3 percent, at $372.70 a tonne. Arabica was little changed after a choppy session of producer selling, attracted by the weak Brazilian currency, and fund short-covering, traders said. July arabica coffee closed down 0.1 cent, or 0.1 percent, at $1.414 per lb. Total open interest fell for the fifth straight session. July robusta coffee finished down $1, or 0.05 percent, at $1,826 a tonne.
