NYBOT cotton futures did an about-face to close higher Tuesday as speculative buying wiped out early losses in the market and follow-through purchases could buoy values in the days ahead, brokers said. December cotton rose 1.17 cents to finish at 45.15 cents a lb, dealing from 43.55 to 45.30 cents. March gained 0.76 cent to 44.96 cents. Distant months increased 0.25 cent to 0.95 cent.
"The market shook off the debacle of yesterday," said Mike Stevens, an analyst for Swiss Financial Services in Mandeville, Louisiana.
Futures tumbled to its lows for the session on follow-through speculative sales. The early pressure pushed back months, including second position March, down to new contract lows, brokers said.
But the trade swiftly supported fibre contracts and then the speculators who had dumped cotton covered their positions in the market, they said.
"The locals were hunting for stops above 45.20 (cents, basis December)," said Stevens in alluding to automatic buy orders that are put by investors in a market which are triggered when commodities like cotton hits those levels.
Fundamentally, the market is looking at a record crop in the United States whose harvest will hit full-bore by the middle of this month. There are also large crops in places like China, the world's biggest producer and consumer of cotton.
Analysts were also monitoring the US presidential elections on Tuesday to gauge its effect on the cotton trade in the months ahead.
Further out, the trade is looking at figures from the US Department of Agriculture's weekly export sales report on Thursday and its monthly supply/demand report on Nov. 12.
Brokers Flanagan Trading Corp. forecast support for the December cotton contract at 44.90 cents and 44.25 cents, while resistance was at 45.50 and 46.35 cents.
Floor dealers pegged estimated final volume at 9,500 lots, from Monday's 15,258 lots. Open interest in the cotton market rose 1,137 lots to 84,945 lots as of November 1.
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