Benchmark cocoa futures eased Wednesday on trade and arbitrage selling amid a firm dollar, while fund buying and talk of a farmers' strike in leading cocoa grower Ivory Coast limited losses, traders said. "There were some good buyers at the start of the day, but when the dollar got strong the arbitrage narrowed up and there was some good arbitrage and trade related selling here in New York," said a floor trader at the New York Board of Trade.

The most-active May cocoa contract listed on NYBOT slipped $7 to settle at $1,585 a tonne, after dealing within a daily range from $1,576 to $1,599. The front-month May contract eased $5 to $1,565 a tonne, and distant deliveries shed $3 to $6.

Copyright Reuters, 2005