Cotton futures settled with small gains on Thursday as players sat back to wait for the release of a government crop report tomorrow, brokers said. The December cotton contract in New York rose 0.15 cent to end at 60.92 cents per lb, ranging from 60.01 to 61.23 cents.
Volume traded in the December contract reached 4,763 lots at 2:45 pm EDT (1845 GMT). March cotton was up 0.15 cent to finish at 63.40 cents, dealing from 62.50 to 63.65 cents. "We're just waiting for the report, but not expecting a major surprise (in the data)," said Frank Weathersby, an analyst for brokers Affinity Trading in Fort Walton Beach, Florida.
The US Agriculture Department will release its monthly supply/demand report on Friday at 8:30 am EDT (1230 GMT). Most analysts expect the USDA to peg the US cotton crop around 13.3 to 13.4 million (480-lb) bales. Last month, the USDA forecast the US cotton harvest at 13.21 million bales in the 2009/10 marketing year (August/July). Weathersby believes the market will take a look at the number and if there are no surprises, the attention of the market will turn to worries over the
The market will also look at the USDA's weekly export sales report to gauge fibre demand. The brokers expect total US cotton sales to reach around 180,000 to 250,000 running bales (RBs, 500-lbs each), from 322,700 RBs in last week's report.
Brokers Flanagan Trading Corp sees resistance in the December cotton contract at 61.35 and 62.20 cents, with support at 60.55 and 59.60 cents. Total volume traded Wednesday reached 8,218 lots as of September 8, from the previous tally of 12,032 lots, exchange data showed. Open interest was at 127,022 lots as of September 9, from the previous count of 126,311 contracts, ICE Futures US said.
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