New York cotton futures firm

Cotton futures settled higher Tuesday on a steady round of speculative buying and a further rise may be hemmed in by solid producer and trade sales in the market, brokers said.
The New York Board of Trade's key March cotton contract increased 0.28 cent to finish at 53.69 cents a lb, in a band from 53.30 to 53.75 cents. May added 0.27 cent to 54.27 cents. The rest gained 0.25 to 0.60 cent.
Keith Brown, head of commodity firm Keith Brown and Co in Moultrie, Georgia, said speculative accounts continued to nudge the market higher as it tried to get near 54 cents basis March.
"I don't think we'd go very far," Brown said, adding growers will sell cotton mainly because they may feel that would be the best price they would get in the weeks ahead.
Fundamentally, market players will be waiting for the weekly export sales report from the US Department of Agriculture to gauge the level of demand for the fiber.
Also, the trade will be looking closely at the ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organisation in Hong Kong and where US cotton subsidies account for one of the thorniest issues between Washington and cotton-growing nations in Africa.
African nations want the subsidies eliminated, but the US cotton industry and Washington has steadfastly insisted it will not single out cotton ahead of other agricultural commodities where reforms will be implemented.
Futures lost ground at the start on trade sales, but speculative funds came in and began running the market steadily higher throughout the session, dealers said.
"It's steadier because of the specs, but it's been a fairly choppy session," one said. "We could go for another pop tomorrow, but you run into producer pressure every point on the way higher."
Brokers Flanagan Trading Corp sees resistance in the March contract at 54.05 and 54.65 cents, with support at 53.20 and 52.45 cents.
Floor dealers said estimated final volume amounted to 14,000 lots, from the prior tally of 13,978 lots. Open interest rose 346 lots to 100,392 contracts as of December 12.