Cotton futures fell on Friday to snap a three-day rally as investors rolled positions forward ahead of the March contract expiry. "The market is just taking a pause, the index roll is keeping a lid on the prices," said Louis Barbera, a broker at ICAP Cotton in New York.
The March cotton contract on ICE Futures US, which hit a six-month high in the previous session, was up 2 percent this week. This was the third straight weekly gain for the natural fiber market.
"The fact that open interest is still so high and prices are this firm talks more about the strength of the market than weakness," Barbera added.
The March cotton contract on ICE Futures US settled down 0.5 cent, or 0.65 percent, at 76.41 cents per lb. It traded within a range of 76.21 to 77.15 cents a lb.
Total futures market volume fell by 19,806 to 45,979 lots. Data showed total open interest gained 4,312 to 287,059 contracts in the previous session.
The Thomson Reuters CoreCommodity CRB Index, which tracks 19 commodities, was down 0.16 percent. Speculators raised their net long position for cotton by 4,556 contracts to 104,264 in week to January 31, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission data showed.
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