Brazilian Rains Curb Coffee's upward momentum By FC Stone

Arabica coffee futures in New York for the December contract closed 10 points higher at 121.1 on Wednesday,
in a relatively quiet session. The markets opened with upward momentum from yesterday’s session and moved higher reaching a high of 122.45. News by SOMAR of strong rains hitting the Brazilian coffee regions provoked selling  pressure,  bringing  the  prices  down  to  a  low  of  119.20.  Areas  like  Parana  and  parts  of  Minas  Gerais received rains of 39 and 11 to 18 mm respectively, with no reports of hail. SOMAR forecasts rains to continue from September 14 th  and 18 th . Volume was relatively low, reaching 19,528 lots  today. Open interest increased by 1,683 lots,  reaching 179,552 lots.  A recent OI increment evidenced the building up of new shorts in the market place. The Brazilian real strengthened, relieving some of the selling pressure, trading at BRL3.7930 at 3:00pm EST.