20000218

CSCE cocoa ends higher amid March-May switches

NEW YORK: CSCE cocoa futures ended higher Wednesday, mostly on rollovers from the March contract into now active May where light buy stops were triggered on the move above $800 a tonne on Wednesday, dealers said.

Shortcovering by locals and trade buying also helped prices recover for a second day from Monday's speculative selloff, they said.

May settled at $800 a tonne, up $15 but below its $805 high. March, under delivery notice since Tuesday, rose $16 to $764 and the rest gained $14 to $16 a tonne.

"There were some big numbers being thrown around on the floor as far as the spreads," said one trader, estimating 2,500 contract spread volume and 3,234 lots of Against Actuals.

"When you take all that out, it was really quite a modest day of outright volume," he said.

Exchange-estimated final volume in cocoa on Wednesday was 12,050 contracts, compared to official turnover Tuesday of 8,337 contracts.

Downside pressure has been alleviated now that West Africans have sold the bulk of their current crop, experts said.

But May cocoa has traded in a range of $773 to $817 this month and prices would need to get above that Feb 8 high to accelerate on the upside, dealers said.

LIFFE cocoa ended easier but locked in a tight range. March last traded at 530 pounds a tonne, down two, trading between 532 and 528 pounds.-Reuters