Cocoa Falls in New York, Halts 2-Day Rally, as Dollar Rebounds

By Shruti Date Singh

Aug. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Cocoa fell in New York, halting a two-day rally, as the dollar's rally made the commodity more expensive for buyers holding other currencies.

An index measuring the dollar against six currencies rose as much as 0.5 percent today, rebounding from a 0.4 percent drop the previous two days that helped send cocoa up 3.3 percent. The British pound, used to trade cocoa in London, has dropped 6.1 percent against the U.S. currency this month.

``Cocoa is driving itself on the changes in the U.S. dollar,'' said Hector Galvan, a senior market strategist for RJO Futures in Chicago.

Cocoa futures for December delivery fell $11, or 0.4 percent, to $2,660 a metric ton at 10:12 a.m. on ICE Futures U.S., the former New York Board of Trade. Cocoa earlier today rose as much as 1.1 percent while the dollar was down as much 0.2 percent.

Through yesterday, cocoa dropped 16 percent since the end of June as the dollar index rose 6 percent.

To contact the reporter on this story: Shruti Date Singh in Chicago at ssingh28@bloomberg.net.