ICE cotton futures were little changed in thin trading on Wednesday ahead of weekly US export sales data on Thursday amid concerns over dry weather hurting crops in the major cotton-growing state of Texas. After gaining for three straight sessions, the December cotton contract on ICE Futures settled down 0.11 cent, or 0.16 percent, at 68.11 cents per lb. It traded within a range of 67.73 and 68.47 cents a lb.
"At the moment, the market is balanced between good (physical) demand and unknown weather," said Rogers Varner, president of Varner Brokerage in Cleveland, Mississippi. "The volume was light today. Lot of people are on vacation and they are just not trading cotton. It's called the summer doldrums and I think the cotton is in that period."
Cotton prices rose for the previous three sessions on concerns over dry weather causing damage to cotton crops in West Texas, the major cotton-growing region in the United States. Total futures market volume fell by 9,001 to 11,140 lots. Data showed total open interest fell 36 to 216,102 contracts in the previous session.
"The market certainly seems to be building a base for prices to try and trade higher in the coming weeks," Ron Lee, general manager at McCleskey Cotton in Bronwood, Georgia, said in a note. "Eventually expect December to challenge the 200-day average at some point ... All eyes are now on the crop that is approaching or has passed the 'halfway point' in its lifespan in the Northern Hemisphere." The US dollar recovered some losses against the euro on Wednesday after touching a more than one-year low in the prior session. The dollar index was up 0.21 percent.