Cocoa Jumps to 2-Week High in N.Y. on Equity Gain, Dollar Slump

By Shruti Date Singh

March 13 (Bloomberg) -- Cocoa rose to a two-week high as the appeal of commodities traded in New York increased on a rally in equities and a decline in the dollar.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average of 30 major stocks rose as much as 1 percent, heading for the first weekly gain in five. The U.S. Dollar Index, measuring the greenback against six other currencies, fell as much as 0.5 percent, heading for the first weekly drop since Feb. 6. The Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index of 19 raw materials advanced as much as 0.6 percent today.

“It’s outside markets,” said Hector Galvan, a senior trading consultant for RJO Futures in Chicago. “I am looking at the dollar being down. Yesterday and today have been dedicated to trading off of energy and stocks. It’s helping.”

Cocoa futures for May delivery climbed $86, or 3.7 percent, to $2,426 a metric ton at 10:24 a.m. on ICE Futures U.S. in New York. The price earlier reached $2,445, the highest for a most- active contract since Feb. 26.

Metals and other agricultural commodities traded in New York, including gold, silver, copper, sugar, coffee, cotton and orange juice, all gained. Agricultural futures traded in Chicago also climbed.

Since yesterday, the New York cocoa market has attracted more buying after the most-active contract’s price surpassed the month’s high of $2,378 on March 2, Galvan said.

“It gave people an incentive, another reason,” he said. “People may try to test $2,466.”

Cocoa is the second-best performer on the CRB index today partly on forecasts for a global production deficit, Galvan said.

Output may trail demand by as much as 223,000 tons in the year ending Sept. 30, Macquarie Bank Ltd. in London has forecast.

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