Cocoa Surges, Gold, Silver Dip

Ivaylo
10 May, 2007
New York City

Cocoa futures surged to three-week highs Wednesday, supported by a soft dollar that encouraged speculator and fund buying. A report out Wednesday announced that Nigeria''s beans may have been damaged by too much rain. The heavy are expected to boost Nigerian midcrop development, but it will make it difficult for farmers to sun-dry the beans after fermentation and may degrade quality. All the precious metals declined on Wednesday. Energy futures ended mixed.

[R]5:00AM Cocoa advances Wednesday, while gold and silver decline.[/R]
On the New York Board of Trade, the most-active July cocoa surged $39 to settle at $1,929 a metric ton. July Arabica coffee futures advanced 1 cent at $1.0625 a pound. Futures on raw sugar in foreign ports for July ended 0.09 cent higher at 9.31 cents a pound.

June gold declined $4.90 at $682.50 a troy ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange. July silver declined 13 cents at $13.47. July platinum dipped $3.70 to end at $1,339.50 an ounce, while June palladium lost $5.55 to finish at $370.40 an ounce. The most-active July copper contract lost 4.35 cents to settle at $3.6790 per pound.

The June crude oil contract declined 71 cents to close at $61.55 a barrel after trading as low as $60.68, the lowest intraday price for a front-month contract since March 22. June gasoline advanced 2.64 cents to $2.2309 a gallon, while June heating oil settled down 1.41 cents to $1.8158 a gallon. June natural gas added 8.3 cents to end at $7.720 per million British thermal units.

May corn ended 3.50 cents higher at $3.5725 per bushel, July gained 2.75 cents $3.6625, and December slipped 0.50 cent to $3.66. July soybeans finished up 8 cents at $7.4750 per bushel, and November soybeans rose 8.50 cents to $7.7725. July wheat advanced 1 cent to $4.82 per bushel.