Cotton futures saw their largest single-session gains in nearly two months on Monday, hitting a two-week high as a large drop in speculators' net short positions fuelled buying after prices approached technically oversold levels. "There was a big decline in the spec long position from the prior week," said Jobe Moss, a broker with MCM Inc in Lubbock, Texas. "We've flushed some folks out." March cotton on ICE Futures US settled up 1.06 cent, or 1.73 percent, at 62.47 cents per lb, after rising as high as 62.93 cents a lb, the highest level since January 4.
That marked the sharpest single-session gain since November 25. Speculators slashed their cotton bullish bets to their lowest levels in 3-1/2 months in the week ended January 12, according to data released Friday after market close. Markets were closed on Total futures market volume rose by 13,636 to 36,129 lots. Data showed total open interest gained 184,478 to 184,478 contracts in the previous session.
Certificated cotton stocks deliverable as of January 16 totalled 64,141 480-lb bales, unchanged from 64,141 bales in the previous session. The dollar index was up 0.02 percent. The Thomson Reuters CoreCommodity CRB Index, which tracks 19 commodities, was down 0.28 percent. The Relative Strength Index in the most-active contract rose to 46.521, after falling as low as 37.282 the prior session, near technically oversold territory.