New York cotton futures a shade lower

Cotton futures settled fractionally easier Thursday on speculative sales, and the lack of interest in the pit may keep the market trapped in a band over the next few days, brokers said. New York Board of Trade's May cotton contract eased 0.06 cent to end at the session low of 53.44 cents per lb, with the day's high at 53.80 cents.
July fell 0.08 to 54.26 cents. One contract aside, the rest fell 0.05 to 0.15 cent. The IntercontinentalExchange's NYBOT electronic platform for cotton showed the May contract off 0.02 cent at 53.48 cents at 2:27 pm EDT (1827 GMT), moving from 53.40 to 53.90 cents.
"It's like watching paint dry. The market's not close to captivating any of the funds," said Keith Brown, president of commodity firm Keith Brown and Co in Moultrie, Georgia. "It's just that, tedious."
He said investors would rather play with gold or other financial markets where there is more of a chance to make money rather than a cotton market with an exceedingly tight range. Analysts said many players are already waiting for the release of the potential plantings report by the US Agriculture Department due out on March 30.
Most in the trade expect the data to show a sharp cut in US cotton sowings for 2007, mainly because the sizzling rally in corn and other grains would likely prompt farmers to switch land to grains and away from cotton.
Last year, USDA said US farmers planted 15.276 million acres to cotton. The industry group National Cotton Council said in a survey released February 2 that farmers would only plant 13.21 million acres to cotton this year.
Most analysts feel US cotton plantings could shrink to around 12.5 million to 13 million acres. Several aver it could drop to about 12 million acres or even lower. On another front, USDA's weekly export sales report showed total US cotton sales at 271,900 running bales (RBs, 500-lbs each), from 289,600 RBs in last week's report and trade belief it would run from 200,000 to 300,000 RBs.
US cotton shipments of previously booked orders reached 216,800 RBs, from 249,600 RBs in last week's report and trade expectations it would range from 250,000 to 300,000 RBs.
Brokers Flanagan Trading Corp sees resistance in May cotton at 53.75 and 54.35 cents, with support at 53.30 and 52.80 cents. Floor dealers said final estimated cotton volume in open-outcry stood at 5,000 lots, down from Wednesday's tally of 8,649 contracts. NYBOT said electronic trading volume Wednesday came to 3,149 lots. Open interest rose 429 lots to 213,521 lots as of March 13.