ICE cotton futures settled higher for the third straight session on Thursday, hitting a fresh six-month high, helped by strong export sales data. The March cotton contract on ICE Futures US reached a peak of 77.40 cents a lb on Thursday, the highest since August 5. "Export sales were lower than last week but they are still really strong. (Sales) in the last couple of weeks have been some of the highest in years even," said Gabriel Crivorot, analyst at Societe Generale in New York.
Weekly export sales data from the US government showed net upland sales totaled 328,700 running bales of cotton for the week ended January 26, compared with the 2016/2017 marketing year high of 457,000 running bales in the prior week. Sales were up 8 percent from the prior 4-week average. A weaker dollar was supporting cotton for a major part of the day, Crivorot said.
The US dollar fell to its lowest since mid-November against a basket of major rivals on Thursday. The March cotton contract on ICE Futures US settled up 0.47 cent, or 0.61 percent, at 76.91 cents per lb. It traded within a range of 75.72 and 77.4 cents a lb. Total futures market volume rose by 19,704 to 65,447 lots. Data showed total open interest gained 6,145 to 282,747 contracts in the previous session.