"Today's action was mostly locally dominated with industry buyers below the end of the range," said one trader. December coffee advanced 0.35 cent to 73.50 cents a lb after trading in a 72.55 cents to 73.75 cents range.
September likewise settled up 0.35 cent at 69.80 cents after moving in a trading range of 68.90 cents to 69.90 cents.
Trading volumes were unusually thin, likely because many participants were out on holiday, traders said.
"It is end of August, and maybe people are taking the last few days of vacation they can," one trader said. "It's been really quiet today." Final estimated volume was 6,850 lots, compared with the previous count of 9,876 lots.
Call volume reached 2,336 lots and puts hit 2,142 lots. On the weather front, Meteorlogix forecast dry weather during the next seven days in Brazil, the world's biggest coffee grower and exporter.
On the supply side, Santos-based coffee trader Comexim forecast Brazil would have 32.59 million 60-kg bags of coffee available on January 1, 2005, compared with 12.59 million bags it had at the start of the 2004/05 (June/July) crop year.
In its biannual report, Comexim said that the 12.59 million bags of coffee carried over from July 2004 consisted of 7.25 million bags in private stores and 5.34 million bags in public stores, Reuters reported in Rio de Janeiro.
On NYBOT, open interest in the coffee market dipped by 180 lots to 80,485 lots as of August 24.
One trader said technical support for the December delivery was at 72.60 cents, based on a 40-day moving average, with resistance at 73.75 cents, which was today's highest trade.