Cocoa closes below one-month high in NY, US while sugar recovers

New York cocoa futures settled higher on Thursday, just below a one-month high set in the previous session, while raw sugar prices rebounded from a near two-year low hit earlier in the week. COCOA * December cocoa futures in New York settled up $53, or 0.7 percent, at $7,750 a metric tonne, climbing toward a one-month high of $7,915 hit on Wednesday. * Dealers said the market’s focus remained on second-largest producer Ghana, where the outlook for next season’s crop has deteriorated and there are also major concerns about how purchases of the product will be financed by state regulator Cocobod. * “Hot and dry weather conditions have caused flowers and pods to dry out in Ghana’s key growing regions,” ING said in a note. * London-traded cocoa was little changed at 5,469 pounds a tonne. SUGAR * October raw sugar was up 0.2 cent, or 1.1%, at 17.85 cents a lb, recovering from a near two-year low of 17.52 cents hit on Tuesday and Wednesday. * Traders said supplies should remain ample ...