* Raw sugar May expires today
* July cocoa rises above 50 pct Fibonacci retracement
* Arabica below Thursday's intraday 34-year peak
By Marcy Nicholson
NEW YORK, April 29 (Reuters) - U.S. cocoa futures trading on ICE climbed for the fourth straight day on Friday, hitting a six-week high after climbing above technical buy signals, while arabica coffee reversed up and moved towards Thursday's 34-year top.
Raw sugar moved down for the fifth straight day, hitting a 6-1/2-month low on supply pressure and as it continued its downtrend on the last trading day of the month.
London-based Liffe soft commodity markets were closed for U.K. holidays Friday and Monday, and will reopen Tuesday. ICE Futures U.S. will delay the start of electronic trading for coffee, cocoa and sugar until 7:30 a.m. EDT (1130 GMT) on Monday because of the British holidays, it said in a notice.
U.S. cocoa continued higher, following a technical breakout and options-related dealings earlier this week that forced many holding short positions to frantically take cover.
Key July cocoa futures rose $62, or 1.9 percent, to $3,342 per tonne by 11:33 a.m. EDT (1533 GMT), just off its session high of $3,344, the highest for the second position since March 14.
"I think today we have some nervousness about the slowness of cocoa moving out of the Ivory Coast and the market rebuilding some risk premium," said Sterling Smith, analyst with Country Hedging in Minnesota.
Ivory Coast cocoa exports could resume by next week after a row was resolved over how to make customs payments, two exporters in the world's top grower nation told Reuters on Thursday.
The July contract attracted heavy short-covering on Wednesday after rising above $3,130, but rising open interest shows the rally also attracted new longs to the market in the past two trading sessions. The contract rose above the 40 percent Fibonacci retracement level at $3,328 on Friday, spurring more buying, dealers said.
The second position was on track to see its best weekly performance in two years and best monthly performance since September 2009.
Arabica coffee futures corrected lower in thin dealings after hitting a 34-year high at $3.0340 per lb, basis July, intraday Thursday and settling well below this peak.
July arabica coffee futures turned up 1.10 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $3.0020 per lb.
The market remains underpinned by concerns about tight supplies of washed arabica beans and was on track to make the strongest monthly gains since December.
Raw sugar continued to move lower as the market remained focused on the May delivery, which was expected to be heavy, as the spot contract expires on Friday. Open interest for May dropped to 19,306 lots by April 28, down 11,008 lots from the previous day.
The May raw sugar contract dropped 0.37 cent, or 1.6 percent, to 23.55 cents a lb at 11:35 a.m. July fell 0.33 cent, or 1.5 percent, to 22.19 cents, after falling to a session low at month low at 21.75, the lowest since October 2010.
"Sugar is caught in a downward trend and I think sugar has more work to do on the downside. We do have the large Brazilian crop coming into the supply chain," Smith said.
The second position has fallen for three straight months. * Prices as of 1538 GMT Product Last Change Pct Move End 2010 Ytd Pct ICE sugar 23.55 -0.37 -1.55 32.12 -26.68 ICE coffee 300.80 1.60 +0.53 241.80 24.40 ICE cocoa 3346.00 66.00 +2.01 3052.00 9.63 CRB index 367.74 1.43 +0.39 332.80 10.50 Crude oil 113.42 0.56 +0.50 91.38 24.12 Euro/dlr 1.48 0.04 +2.66 1.34 10.82 * ICE sugar and ICE coffee in cents per lb, ICE cocoa, Liffe sugar and Liffe coffee in dollars per tonne. Liffe cocoa in pounds per tonne.
(Source: http://www.forexyard.com/en/news/SOFTS-cocoa-at-6-wk-high-coffee-turns-higher-2011-04-29T155822Z-US)
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