Cotton futures settled lower Monday on a steady drumbeat of speculative fund sales as worries over the credit crisis is expected to keep fibre contracts on the defensive this week, brokers said.
New York Board of Trade's key open-outcry December cotton contract slid 1.38 cents to close at 56.97 cents per lb, moving from 56.75 to 57.81 cents. March dropped 1.45 to 60.25 cents. The back months retreated from 1.05 to 1.65 cents.
The IntercontinentalExchange NYBOT electronic cotton market saw the December cotton contract down 1.45 cents to 56.90 cents at 2:29 pm EDT (1829 GMT), and traded from 56.70 to 58.50 cents.
"Nobody wants to go all in. It might be a career-ending move," said Jobe Moss, an analyst for broker and merchant MCM Inc in Lubbock, Texas. He said many investors were "very, very antsy" about the prospect that a worsening of the credit crisis may hit cotton demand and deflate the prices of fibre contracts.
Even though cotton acreage may be going down in the US and possibly Brazil, this was being offset by increases in plantings in China, the world's top consumer of cotton. Small speculators piled on the pressure in cotton futures and a close below the recent low of 56.90 cents in the key December contract could lead to further weakness in the days ahead, said Moss and other dealers.
Moss believes the December contract would probably test the area around 55.70 and 55.50 cents. Analysts said the only thing keeping the market supported would be some consumer buying at the market's lows. "Given the weak tone of the market, we could see some more declines before this thing stabilises," a trader said.
Brokers Flanagan Trading Corp put support in December delivery at 56.50 and 55.75 cents, with resistance at 57.50 and 58.20 cents. Open-outcry volume on Friday in the cotton market was 4,387 lots while screen trade reached 7,700 lots. Open interest was at 198,278 lots as of August 24, up 1,007 lots from the previous session.
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