US cotton futures rose more than 1 percent Friday after light technical buying propped a market that has seen declines through most of April. Cotton for July delivery on the New York Board of Trade (NYBOT) ended open-outcry trade at 52.09 cents a lb, up 0.76 cent from the previous session. Its high for the day was 52.20 cents.
IntercontinentalExchange's NYBOT electronic platform for cotton showed the July contract up 0.65 cent at 51.98 cents at 4 pm EDT (2000 GMT), moving from 51.05 to 52.16. "It could be that we've found a bottom to the downside, so there may be more technical support from here," said a trader.
Spot May cotton on NYBOT rose 0.49 cent to 49.64 cents. The rest of the complex settled up 0.50 to 0.65 cent. NYBOT cotton prices are down almost 6.0 percent since the start of April and off nearly 9 percent from peaks in January.