The US cotton futures finished mostly easier on Monday as the market appeared to be consolidating after dropping to a three-month low last week and the trade is uncertain what its next move will be, brokers said.
ICE Futures open-outcry March cotton contract eased 0.01 cent to close at 63.45 cents per lb, moving from 63.10 to 64 cents. It was an inside day since the range was within Friday's 63 to 64.75 cents band.
Two contracts aside, the rest were flat to 0.19 cent down. The ICE March electronic cotton contract rose 0.04 cent to 63.50 cents at 3:17 pm EST (2017 GMT), dealing from 63.07 to 63.95 cents. "The market's fully steady but going nowhere," said Mike Stevens, an analyst for brokers SFS Futures in Mandeville, Louisiana.
Futures sagged early, possibly from light follow-through sales, but then pared losses when trade and possible mill fixation buying showed up, dealers said.
But the tone of the whole move was so lacklustre it was difficult to derive any leads on what fibre contracts are going to do next, with Stevens saying players "can't draw any conclusions" on what cotton futures did on Monday.
Traders said that while some players believe the March contract may probe the region of 62 and 61 cents, others feel that would provide an ideal opportunity for some cotton end-users to book their own orders.
Stevens believes the tone of the market will be determined overnight if overseas business orders come through and by what kind of positions investors have in the cotton market, according to the weekly spec/hedge report released by the exchange.
Broker Flanagan Trading Corp sees resistance in the March open-outcry cotton contract at 63.70 and 64.55 cents, with support at 62.85 and 62.20 cents. Open-outcry cotton volume Friday was at 11,774 lots and screen trade at 29,255 lots. Open interest in the market rose 764 lots to 210,389 lots as of November 30, according to exchange data.
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