NYBOT cotton futures finished mixed Friday in trade featuring small speculators, with most players sidelined to wait for release of a key government report next week, analysts said.
December cotton eased 0.02 cent to close at 47.35 cents a lb, ranging from 46.81 and 47.95 cents. March rose 0.08 cent to 49.37 cents. Aside from two contracts, the rest settled unchanged.
"I think we're just biding our time waiting for the report to go out," said Keith Brown, president of commodity trading firm Keith Brown and Co in Moultrie, Georgia.
He was referring to the monthly US Department of Agriculture supply/demand report, which is due out on Tuesday at 8:30 am EDT (1230 GMT). The report contains the latest updates on world cotton production and consumption.
Cotton futures established a trading range and the small speculators were content to stay within a few points of unchanged going into the close of business, dealers said.
"The locals just jobbed the market. People don't want to do anything until they see the report next week," a long-time floor broker said.
Analysts said a recent rash of storms in the southeastern United States will likely prompt the USDA to trim its estimate for US cotton output in 2004/05 to around 20.31 million (480-lb) bales.
The USDA in September pegged the crop at a record 20.9 million bales. Last year, American farmers harvested 18.26 million bales.
The analysts said a reduction in the crop in China, the world's largest consumer of cotton, could be offset by a rise in the harvest in other major producers like India and Pakistan.
Brokers Flanagan Trading Corp said it believes support in the December contract would be at 47.10 and 46.35 cents, with resistance at 47.75 and 48.30 cents.
Floor dealers pegged estimated final volume at 4,000 lots, from Thursday's 5,045 lots. Open interest in the cotton market fell 448 lots to 71,757 lots as of October 7.
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