ICE cotton futures climbed nearly 1 percent to rise for the third session in a row in thin volume trade on Friday and the natural fiber market registered its best weekly performance in three weeks. "There is a bit of buying going on. But the volumes are so low that prices are fluctuating easily," said Gabriel Crivorot, analyst at Societe Generale in New York.
The March cotton contract on ICE Futures US ended the week up 2.5 percent, the best weekly growth since the week ended January 6.
The March cotton contract on ICE Futures US settled up 0.66 cent, or 0.89 percent, at 74.85 cents per lb. It traded within a range of 74.19 and 74.97 cents a lb.
Total futures market volume fell by 4,201 to 23,289 lots. Data showed total open interest gained 4,056 to 267,702 contracts in the previous session.
Cotton Outlook (Cotlook) in a monthly report on Friday raised its world output forecast for the 2016/17 crop year through end-July by 194,000 tonnes to 22.65 million tonnes.