Cotton futures on Monday marked their biggest intra-day percentage gain in nearly two weeks, supported by a rally in the grains markets and concerns that hurricane Matthew may hit the cotton producing belt of North Carolina. "Cotton bounced based on a slim chance of the hurricane hitting the Carolina coast and spillover sympathy from the grains," said Rogers Varner, president of Varner Brokerage in Cleveland, Mississippi.
Hurricane Matthew intensified en route to Haiti on Monday, bringing 140-mile-per-hour (220-kph) winds and torrential rain that could wreak havoc in Caribbean nations that had yet to evacuate residents of risky coastal homes. The market awaited weekly crop progress data from the US Department of Agriculture due later in the day.
The December cotton contract on ICE Futures US registered their biggest intra-day percentage change since Sept. 21 settling up 0.65 percent or 0.44 cent, at 68.52 cents per lb. It traded within a range of 67.2 and 68.66 cents a lb The Chicago Board of Trade's most active December corn contract hit a 10-1/2 week high and was up 2.3 percent, or 7-3/4 cents, at $3.44-1/2 a bushel at 11:59 a.m. CDT (1659 GMT). Most active November soybeans gained 1.4 percent, or 13-1/4 cents, to $9.67-1/4 a bushel, helped by technical buying and short-covering.