US cotton futures ended up on Friday, building on gains from its last session as technical buying helped the market put on strong show after a mostly lacklustre week. December cotton on the New York Board of Trade (NYBOT) ended up 0.47 cents at 55.60 cents per lb. It had earlier hit an intraday high of 55.95 cents.
For almost two weeks, the benchmark contract has been stuck in a two-cent range, seeing support emerge at the lower end of 54 cents and resistance at around 56 cents. Market sources said they did not expect much change in the week ahead. "On a macro scale, the market is "wrestling" with two questions," Sharon Johnson, senior cotton analyst at First Capital Group in Boston said.
"One: Is the drop in the US and/or world crops enough to sponsor a supply driven rally irrespective of demand, and Two: When will demand pick up and will it meet projections?" Johnson said.
Dealers were uninspired by Thursday's trade data from the US Department of Agriculture, which put net upland sales of cotton at 16 percent higher at 91,800 bales from a week ago, amid a 23 percent drop in exports. March cotton closed up 0.45 cents at 58.98 cents per lb. The rest of the NYBOT cotton block rose 0.05 to 0.40 cent.