Cotton futures jumped the most in month on Thursday, fuelled by expectations of a bullish weekly US export sales report on Friday and mill buying. The benchmark July cotton contract on ICE Futures US ended up 1.28 cents, or 1.5 percent, at 86.15 cents a lb. Before Thursday's gain, the front-month had been down 12 of the last 13 sessions. The rally lifted the spot contract out of technically oversold territory, lifting its 14-day relative strength index to nearly 35 from 25.7 previously.
"Most people are expecting a big export sales report, which may have started the ball rolling. Then mills chased the market up," said Chris Kramedjian, a risk management consultant for INTL FCStone in Nashville, Tennessee. Kramedjian said he expected that US Department of Agriculture (USDA) weekly export sales data due on Friday could show a combined total of 200,000 bales booked for both the 2013/14 crop year and the new year beginning August 1.
A sharp increase in sales seen in the prior week's data shocked the market. Traders said Thursday's mill buying largely consisted of price fixations on previously booked orders, which offset the beginning of rolling by major commodities index funds. Cotton prices have been under pressure as rains have showered Texas, the top-producing US state, and as the progress of plantings throughout the world's top exporter has picked up sharply.
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