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CSCE cocoa settles higher in sideways activity

NEW YORK: CSCE cocoa futures closed a shade higher on Tuesday in another quiet session as prices remain stuck in a range, traders and brokers said.

"We continue to trade sideways in a trading range. Today I think you saw more enthusiastic trade buying," one trader said.

Active March ended up $7 at $846 a tonne after trading $853-$836. May gained the same to end at $873 and the rest rose $6-$7.

Bean prices fell briefly under the previous session's low in early activity due to local and arbitrage selling, but then rebounded, triggering light stops, floor traders said.

"There's a lot of spec (speculative) buying, with some light stops being touched off, but no big size trade today," one floor broker said.

Traders and brokers said a lack of follow-through selling from Monday at the lower levels allowed prices to stage a moderate recovery.

A lack of fundamental news added to market lethargy, although operators are still keeping a close eye on any change in the situation in top producer Ivory Coast.

"There's no fresh news there (Ivory Coast) so consequently there was no panic buying. But we're right in the middle of the crop year, right in the thick of it, so it could change pretty quickly if something happened. The risk is there," one trader said.

Other than some short-lived tension at the end of last week, Ivory Coast has been reasonably calm since a Christmas Eve coup as the new military ruler attempts to form a broad-based transition government.

Technically, chartists peg nearby resistance for March at $850-55, then 867-70, with nearby support at $839-35, followed by $824-20, then all the way down to $804-800.

Volume was an estimated 3,967 lots against the previous official volume of 6,053 lots.

The CSCE is a subsidiary of the New York Board of Trade.-Reuters