"New York is edging to a new low and I reckon London is going to come down further," said Susan Rigg of Chart Analysis.

Traders called cocoa to open unchanged.

"London is looking very much as if its going to take a look at the low of 980 that we had on October 14. Its going to have to move back fairly quickly and take out the previous range 1,030 back in mid-September, going above it, to say its not going down," she added.

Rigg said cocoa would find support above 1,030 per tonne and then could have a look at the 1,050 area. However she noted an abundance of supply there which was bearish.

London cocoa prices were on the slide on Wednesday, initially hurt by the lack of fresh news and then beaten down by falls in New York, dealers said.

By the close, benchmark December was down 16 pounds to 992 pounds per tonne on volume of 3,334 lots while March also shed 16pounds to 1,021 with 3,070 lots traded. Total market volume rose to 8,328 lots compared with Tuesday's 3,347.

Selling pressure in London intensified after New York had opened and headed lower breaching chart support at $1,500 per tonne which triggered sell-stops.

In New York, CSCE cocoa futures posted broad losses Wednesday, with much of the board setting new life-of-contract lows amid a bearish technical picture, market sources said.

Benchmark December cocoa fell $18 per tonne to settle at $1,488, after ranging between $1,508 and a new lifetime low of $1,485. On the continuous weekly chart, December's new low was the weakest level for a spot contract since February 1998.

Second-month March ended down $16 to $1,533, while the rest of the board lost $17.

"The market's been trading sideways and it started giving up ground four days ago," said Salomon Smith Barney analyst Walter Spilka.

"It's a reflection of the fact that there's no shortage of cocoa expected. The world is producing a big supply ofcocoa, there's plenty of stocks and there's no threat to supply right now."

US food and candy maker Hershey Foods Corp. Wednesday reported a seven per cent gain in third-quarter income, boosted by snacks, Halloween treats and new products.

"Our largest division, Hershey Chocolate North America, posted solid volume gains in the third quarter, continuing the strong year-to-date performance from new products," chairman Kenneth Wolfe said.

In Indonesia, cocoa processor PT Davomas Abadi said on Thursday that its creditors had agreed to buy convertible bonds to be issued by the company to replace debts.

Davomas has total foreign debts of around $30.5 million.