New York cotton futures mostly down

Cotton futures finished mostly easier Monday due to speculative pressure and the market may drift lower due to a dearth of news over the coming sessions, analysts said. The New York Board of Trade's key December cotton contract was the only winner by rising 0.08 cent to end at 62.80 cents per lb, moving from 62.20 to 62.90 cents.
It was an inside day since the range was within Friday's 61.85 to 63.60 cents band. March shed 0.02 to 65.95 cents. Two contracts aside, the rest lost 0.05 to 0.14 cent. The IntercontinentalExchange NYBOT electronic cotton market saw the December cotton contract gain 0.12 cent to 62.84 cents at 2:28 pm EDT (1828 GMT), moving from 62.23 to 63.17 cents.
Mike Stevens, an analyst for brokers SFS Futures in Mandeville, Louisiana, said there was little in the way of features for cotton on Monday and the contract will likely continue probing lower in the days ahead. "Cotton's current technical weakness, including the strong ongoing historical seasonal pattern, portends an exploration of the 62.20 to 60.20 (cents) area basis December cotton," said Stevens in a weekly commentary.
"The first foray into that area late Friday attracted very good buying from both trade and spec. Very possibly a trading range is about to develop between 62 to 60 (cents) and 64 to 66 (cents)," the report added. Cotton opened flat and speculative accounts quickly established a trading range from which the market did not stray for the rest of the session.
The market is monitoring development of the US cotton crop in the 2007/08 marketing year (August/July). Respected analyst O.A. Cleveland said the mill demand should pick up soon, especially with December contract closing in on 62 cents where suspected mill demand is believed to be lurking. Brokers Flanagan Trading Corp sees support for the December contract at 62.75 and 62 cents, with resistance at 63.60 and 64.25 cents.
Open-outcry volume on Friday stood at 12,192 lots while screen business reached 32,007 lots. Open interest in the cotton market was at 216,090 lots, down 4,018 lots from the previous session.