NYBOT cotton futures settled higher Friday on trade and speculative buying and sentiment was aided by talk of how much damage Hurricane Ivan inflicted on the key cotton growing area of Georgia, dealers said.
Key December cotton sprang up 0.85 cent to conclude at 48.43 cents a lb, moving between 47.58 and 48.85 cents. On Thursday, December ended at 47.58 cents in the lowest close for the contract since it settled at 47.32 cents on August 17.
March rose 0.77 cent to 49.86 cents. Back months increased 0.97 cent to 1.50 cents.
"Trade buying was there right off the bat," said Mike Stevens of Swiss Financial Services in Mandeville, Louisiana.
Dealers said that while the market ignored news of sharp losses to cotton farms in Alabama, they were more concerned about setbacks in Georgia - the second biggest growing state in the country.
Georgia produces about 2.0 million (480-lb) bales of cotton annually, behind only the 6.0 million or so bales churned out by Texas.
"Everything that was growing there got mashed down pretty good," said Stevens, adding it would take some time to quantify the problems facing Georgia cotton farmers.
State officials said it would take several days before they can calculate losses from Hurricane Ivan, which stormed ashore in Alabama and the Florida Panhandle before barging up into prime cotton farms in Georgia.
When the trade buying hoisted cotton up, small speculators who had gone home short in Thursday's session were forced to cover their positions, dealers said.
"We ran into pretty good trade selling when we got to 49 cents (basis December) and backed off," one said, adding the prospect of follow-through buying next week would be uncertain.
Brokers Flanagan Trading Corp said support in the December cotton contract would be at 48.30 and 47.75 cents, with resistance at 49 and 49.90 cents.
Floor dealers pegged estimated final volume at 8,000 lots, from Thursday's 13,722 lots. Open interest in the cotton market rose 1,488 lots to 69,038 lots as of September 16.