ICE cotton futures edged higher for the third time in four sessions on Thursday, supported by strong US exports sales data amid a surging dollar. "Cotton has held up relatively well considering the selloff in some commodities following the US Federal Reserve rate hike announcement," said Peter Egli, director of risk management at British merchant Plexus Cotton.
"I think that has to do with strong export sales ... compared to what we need to sell, we have sold a lot more at the moment." Export data from the US Department of Agriculture showed net upland sales of 311,700 running bales of cotton for the week ended December 8, up 16 percent from the prior four-week average. The US dollar surged to its highest level in 14 years against a basket of major currencies on Thursday in anticipation of a more hawkish Federal Reserve and a boost in US economic growth under President-elect Donald Trump. March cotton contract on ICE Futures US settled up 0.2 cent, or 0.28 percent, at 71.67 cents per lb. It traded within a range of 71.1 cents and 71.77 cents a lb.
Total futures market volume fell by 1,132 lots to 14,412 lots. Data showed total open interest gained 93 to 252,832 contracts in the previous session. The dollar index was up 1.33 percent. The Thomson Reuters CoreCommodity CRB Index, which tracks 19 commodities, was down 0.68 percent.
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