Cotton futures closed lower Thursday on speculative sales as the market pulled back from a three-month high with investors adjusting positions ahead of a key government crop report tomorrow, brokers said. ICE Futures open-outcry December cotton contract shed 0.48 cent to finish at 63.73 cents per lb, trading from 63.20 to 64.20 cents.
March cotton fell 0.31 to 67.64 cents. One contract aside, the rest lost 0.03 to 0.35 cent. The ICE December electronic cotton contract dropped 0.71 cent to 63.50 cents at 2:47 pm EDT (1847 GMT), moving from 63.21 to 64.48 cents.
Sharon Johnson, cotton expert for First Capitol Group in Atlanta, Georgia, said fiber contracts appeared to have overextended themselves in the advance during the previous session.
At this time, cotton market investors were "realigning" their positions with the report coming up. The market largely shrugged off rallies that hoisted prices limit-up in the wheat pit, with soybeans following suit. After opening near unchanged, the market sagged due to steady speculative pressure although losses were limited going into the release of the monthly supply/demand report of the US Agriculture Department.
Separately, cotton brokers said the weekly USDA export sales report will likely show total US cotton sales from 90,000 to 150,000 running bales (RBs, 500-lbs each), against sales last week at 100,800 RBs. US cotton shipments of previously booked orders will probably run from 200,000 to 250,000 RBs, from last week's 258,000 RBs.
Brokers Flanagan Trading Corp sees resistance in the open-outcry December cotton contract at 64.05 and 64.85 cents, with support at 63.25 and 62.70 cents. Open-outcry cotton volume Thursday was 4,277 lots, while screen business reached 15,368 lots. Open interest in the cotton market climbed 833 lots to 233,578 lots as of October 10.