Cotton futures ended mixed Friday in activity featuring small speculators ahead of a holiday break, with analysts uncertain about market direction going into next week. The cotton futures market will be shut Monday in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Trading will resume Tuesday. The New York Board of Trade's March cotton contract slipped 0.11 cent to conclude at 46.17 cents a lb, ranging from 45.66 to 46.30 cents. It was an inside day since the range was within Thursday's 45.62 to 46.45 cents band.
May rose 0.17 cent to 47.23 cents. The rest ranged from 0.25 cent up to 0.15 cent softer.
"Locals dominated today's trading," said Alan Feild of brokers iamhedged.com based in Memphis, Tennessee. He added cotton futures which have rallied steadily on consumer buying in cotton may slip next week because it is "top heavy" and overbought.
Futures slipped at the start on sales by small speculators but those same accounts covered their positions going into the close, dealers said.
"The locals were jobbing the market in its range and since the funds are not there at this time, there was little direction provided for cotton," one said.
Feild feels that if cotton is unable to sustain itself next week past its recent highs, cotton will likely head lower. Some dealers feel though that cotton may mount a probe of 50 cents in the weeks ahead.
Fundamentally, the market is facing record supplies of cotton. On Wednesday, the US Department of Agriculture's monthly supply/demand report raised its estimate of world cotton output in 2004/05 (August/July) to a record 115.64 million (480-lb) bales from 114.02 million last month.
Brokers Flanagan Trading Corp said resistance in the March cotton contract was at 46.60 and 47.10 cents, with support at 46 and 45.30 cents.
Floor traders said final estimated volume was 7,500 contracts, down from Thursday's tally of 12,762 lots. Open interest rose 776 contracts to 93,895 lots as of January 13.