* Arabica's pullback from high not viewed as fundamental
* ICE cocoa higher after Monday's outside reversal higher
* Raw sugar extends losses late in the session
(Updates closing coffee/sugar prices)
By Marcy Nicholson and David Brough
NEW YORK/LONDON, May 20 (Reuters) - Arabica coffee futures on ICE turned a shade higher after touching a six-week low on Tuesday, on heavy position rolling out of the spot contract as market participants awaited more clarity on the extent of crop damage in top grower Brazil.
Cocoa trading on ICE Futures U.S. and Liffe rose to three-week highs on chart-based buy signals while sugar prices were little changed.
July arabica coffee futures on ICE
"The majority of the activity we're seeing is longs rolling forward so that puts a little bit of selling pressure into the market," said Julio Sera, senior risk-management consultant at INTL FCStone in Miami, referring to earlier weakness.
Benchmark coffee prices
"There has been quite a significant pullback from the April high, but I don't think it is due to anything fundamental," a London-based coffee broker said, adding that volatile speculative-driven price swings will likely continue while crop uncertainty persists.
Liffe July robusta coffee
In cocoa, the most-active July contract on Liffe
The ICE contract marked an outside reversal on Monday, exceeding both ends of Friday's range and closing above it, which attracted chart-based buying today, dealers said.
"The smart money has been running short the market," said Eric Sivry, head of agri options brokerage at London-based Marex Spectron. "So? Why not cover? Why not lock in some profit, given that the Bali conference chatter (last week) was not that friendly?"
Talk of higher world production pervaded the market following the Bali cocoa conference, potentially shrinking an anticipated global deficit this season.
Raw sugar futures extended losses late in the session as the market corrected lower following last week's volatile swings. The ICE July raw sugar contract
August white sugar on Liffe
(Editing by David Evans, Jan Paschal and Diane Craft)
((Marcy.Nicholson@thomsonreuters.com, +1 +1 646 223 6043)(Reuters Messaging Marcy.Nicholson.ThomsonReuters.com@reuters.net))
Keywords: MARKETS SOFTS/




















