Weather concerns, weaker dollar prop up cotton futures

Cotton futures settled up on Wednesday, boosted by forecasts for harvest-hindering rains in Texas, the top-producing state in the United States, and further supported by a weaker US dollar.
"A lower dollar, sporadic mill buying and a little bit of wet weather coming into Texas gave the market a little boost," said Rogers Varner, president of Varner Brokerage in Cleveland, Mississippi.
The market awaited the release of the US Department of Agriculture's weekly export sales report on Thursday.
The December cotton contract on ICE Futures US settled up 0.4 cent, or 0.59 percent, at 68.6 cents per lb. It traded within a range of 68.07, the lowest level since Oct. 12, and 68.78 cents a lb.
The dollar index was down 0.33 percent. The Thomson Reuters CoreCommodity CRB Index, which tracks 19 commodities, was down 0.82 percent.
Total futures market volume fell by 4,426 to 26,919 lots. Data showed total open interest fell 3,479 to 257,262 contracts in the previous session.