New York cotton close lower

Cotton futures finished lower Monday on speculative sales but trade and consumer buying kept the market from falling further and will seek to check further attempts by the market to slip lower, dealers said.
The New York Board of Trade's benchmark May contract lost 0.56 cent to end at 53.93 cents a lb, trading from 53.81 to 54.20 cents. July fell 0.52 to 55.23 cents. The rest retreated from 0.25 to 0.58 cent.
Frank Weathersby, an analyst for brokers Affinity Trading in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, said speculators continued to press fiber contracts south but there was robust "support from the trade" at the lows.
He said speculators will probably try to drive cotton prices lower in the days ahead but trade accounts will only give way grudgingly and buy contracts on a scale-down basis.
The market will then turn its attention to the pair of government reports due out at the end of the week, Weathersby and other analysts said.
The first will be the weekly export sales report by the US Department of Agriculture on Thursday and the last will be the USDA's monthly supply/demand report on Friday.
On another front, the market is looking at weather conditions in the key growing region of West Texas. The state is the biggest cotton producer in the country.
The weekly report by Nunn Cotton Co said "the long range forecast suggests more moisture. Support should surface for May at these levels and lower as new export demand" shows up. But the steady pressure from commodity funds with billions of dollars at their disposal will put pressure on cotton if they get out of their positions in the market.
Sharon Johnson, cotton expert for First Capitol Group in Atlanta, Georgia, said last week a sustained fall below 54 cents in the May contract may lead to a "push toward the December low of 52.65 (cents)."
Brokers Flanagan Trading Corp sees resistance in the May cotton contract at 54.10 and 54.70 cents, with support at 53.80 and 53.30 cents. Floor dealers said final trading volume was estimated at 14,000 lots, from the prior count of 20,831 lots. Open interest rose 173 lots to 124,144 contracts as of March 3.