ICE cotton futures fell over 1 percent on Monday, the biggest one-day percentage drop in three weeks, as investors liquidated long positions ahead of the US government's world agriculture supply and demand (WASDE) report due later this week. The March cotton contract on ICE Futures US fell 1.35 percent on Monday, the biggest daily percentage fall since December 19.
"Speculators usually take profit ahead of the WASDE report. It is normal to have speculative liquidation," said Louis Rose, an independent cotton trader and consultant with Risk Analytics in Memphis, Tennessee. "There's a lot of uncertainty ahead of the report so pretty often traders don't want to damage their positions," Rose added. The March cotton contract on ICE Futures US settled down 1 cent, or 1.35 percent, the biggest one-day percentage drop since December 19, at 72.99 cents per lb. It traded within a range of 72.81 and 74.18 cents a lb.
Total futures market volume fell by 477 to 27,656 lots. Data showed total open interest gained 2,842 to 261,502 contracts in the previous session. The US government's world agriculture supply and demand (WASDE) report is scheduled to be released on Thursday.