LONDON Jan 4 (Reuters) - ICE sugar fell in early trading on Wednesday in a technical correction after the prior session's strong rally, pressured by a firmer dollar and weaker financial markets, while coffee and cocoa eased in light volumes. SUGAR * ICE benchmark raw sugar futures edged down 0.1 cent or 0.4 percent to 24.41 cents a lb at 0942 GMT, below a seven-week peak of 24.55 cents per lb touched on Tuesday. * Raw sugar futures rallied more than 5 percent on Tuesday in the biggest one-day surge in 4-1/2 months, marking one of the strongest commodity kickoffs for the first trading day of 2012. * Dealers said an improved global macroeconomic outlook and strengthening physical offtake had underpinned the rally. * Some dealers cited talk of index fund re-weighting in sugar, which should result in net buying of the sweetener. * Dealers said the market expected index funds to boost weightings of sugar after last year's price slide. * Dealers said potential upside in prices was limited by big crops in the EU, Russia, Ukraine, India and Thailand. * Raw sugar tumbled 27.5 percent in 2011, having reached a 30-year high at 36.08 cents a lb on Feb. 2, 2011. * New York sugar faces a resistance at 24.56 cents per lb, and may retrace to 24 cents, a high touched on Dec. 28, 2011, according to Reuters market analyst Wang Tao. {ID:nL3E8C448P] * Sugar output from India's Maharashtra state, top producer of the sweetener in the country, was 18.8 percent higher on the year in the first three months of the 2011/12 crushing season that started on Oct. 1, an industry official said. * London March white sugar futures were up $1.00 or 0.2 percent to $630.70 per tonne. COFFEE * ICE May arabica futures were down 2.45 cent or 1.1 percent to $2.2755 per lb at 0943 GMT in thin volumes. * ICE arabica futures basis the front month finished 2011 down 5.7 percent after a weak performance in the second half of the year. * Coffee's fundamentals are bullish early in 2012 due to weather-related problems in major producer Colombia, which have led to reduced crop forecasts in the world's top grower of washed arabica beans, dealers said. * Analysts say buyers seem to be more willing to use Brazilian arabicas and robustas in blends, because of the limited availability of high quality Colombian coffee. * Second-position ICE arabica futures contracts were still above a one-year low of $2.1235 per lb touched on Dec. 19, when they were pressured by concerns over the euro zone crisis and worries over the global economic outlook. * Signals are mixed for New York coffee as it has been hovering around a resistance at $2.2910, according to Reuters market analyst Wang Tao. * London March robusta coffee futures were down $16 or 0.9 percent to $1,804 per tonne, having earlier touched a nine-week low of $1,787 per tonne, basis second month, pressured by a big harvest in top producer Vietnam. COCOA * ICE May cocoa futures were down $15 or 0.7 percent to $2,120 in thin turnover, weighed by plentiful African supplies. * London March cocoa was down 9 pounds or 0.7 percent to 1,356 pounds per tonne. * The U.S. cocoa market, basis front month, closed 2011 down 30.5 percent, the spot contract's biggest annual drop in 12 years. * Cocoa was one of the worst performers on the CRB index , pressured by abundant West African availability. * New York cocoa will remain neutral as long as it stays within a range of $2,086-$2,199 per tonne, according to Reuters market analyst Wang Tao. OTHER MARKETS * Nerves ahead of a German debt auction helped put European stock markets in negative territory early on Wednesday and halted a surge for the euro after its biggest one-day gain in nearly two months.

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