ICE cotton futures settled higher on Thursday as firm weekly export sales report from the United States Department of Agriculture reassured investors that demand for US cotton was robust. The most-active cotton contract on ICE Futures US July settled up 1.2 cent, or 1.6 percent, at 78.32 cents per lb.
It traded within a range of 77.12 and 78.48 cents a lb. "The data we saw this morning gave the market what it needed to bounce," said Jon Marcus, president of the Lakefront Futures and Options brokerage firm in Chicago.
"Prices will likely find support at the low it made on April 15 at 76.30 cents and will probably hold for a little bit," Marcus added.
The USDA reported net sales of 239,000 running bales (RB) for 2018/2019 which were up 10% from the previous week, for the week ended April 18.
Cotton rates recorded their biggest percentage gain since April 16, having declined for two straight sessions.
"On the downside for prices, rains across West Texas ahead of planting and less than originally planned corn acreage across the Mid-south add potential to pad 2019 domestic production," Louis Rose, director of research and analytics at Tennessee-based Rose Commodity Group said in a note.
Total futures market volume fell by 1,542 to 24,413 lots. Data showed total open interest fell 1,098 to 212,619 contracts in the previous session.
Certificated cotton stocks deliverable as of April 24 totalled 62,657 480-lb bales, up from 61,300 in the previous session.