ICE cotton futures climbed to their highest in over two months on Wednesday ahead of the first notice day, supported by gains in oil and other commodities markets. Cotton contracts for March settled up 1 cent, or 1.43 percent, at 71.14 cents per lb. It had earlier touched 71.76 cents a lb, its highest since September 11.
The contract has gained about 2.6 percent for the week, so far. In early trading, US crude oil peaked at $58.09 per barrel, its highest since July 2015. The dollar index was down 0.70 percent. The Thomson Reuters CoreCommodity CRB Index, which tracks 19 commodities, was up 0.94 percent. Total futures market volume fell by 9,318 to 43,151 lots. Data showed total open interest fell 3,648 to 224,240 contracts in the previous session. Certificated cotton stocks deliverable as of November 21 totalled 47,951 480-lb bales, unchanged from 47,951 in the previous session.