Cotton futures ended easier Monday on investor sales as a lack of leads and the negative mood brought on by the US debt crisis conspired to keep fibre contracts on the defensive, analysts said. The key December cotton futures on ICE Futures US fell 1.88 cents to end at 96.76 cents per lb, trading from 95.13 to 98.99 cents.
It was the lowest close for the second-position contract since mid-September 2010, Thomson Reuters data showed. Business was light. Total market volume hit around 8,000 lots at 2:46 pm EDT (1746 GMT), potentially the lowest since May 23 and over 50 percent below the 30-day norm, Thomson Reuters preliminary data showed. "We're in the doldrums," said independent cotton analyst Mike Stevens in Louisiana. Mills are shying away from cotton futures because they are wrestling with an "overhang" of bumper supplies that has yet to be drawn down, analysts said.
The stalemate in talks in Washington to raise the US debt ceiling added to the glum mood in cotton futures because outside markets like stocks slid and safe-haven funds flocked into gold and Swiss francs. "The outside markets are not helping any," said Stevens. Traders are now looking toward the USDA's weekly crop progress report to gauge the condition of the US cotton crop. The date is due out at 4 pm EDT (2000 GMT).