ICE cotton futures crept up after hitting their highest in more than two months, buoyed by bullish sentiment after US government data showed export sales were at a marketing-year high in the previous session. Cotton contracts for March settled up 0.17 cent, or 0.25 percent, at 69.35 cents per lb. They traded in a range of 69.06 and 69.75 cents a lb, hitting the highest since September 12.
The contract was up 0.3 percent for the week, its fourth consecutive weekly gain. "There is some bullish sentiment," said Keith Brown, principal at cotton brokers Keith Brown and Co in Moultrie, Georgia, adding "export sales data was also a little friendly in that you're having such a strong sales numbers right in the thick of the northern hemispheric harvest."
On Thursday, the US Department of Agriculture reported net upland sales of 506,700 running bales for 2017/2018, a marketing-year high, in its weekly export sales report.
"The market is trying to decide if the crop is large and it is also seeing potential stronger demand," Brown added.
Speculators cut their net long position by 63 contracts to 44,284 in week to November 14, Commodity Futures Trading Commission data showed.
The dollar index was down 0.33 percent. The Thomson Reuters CoreCommodity CRB Index, which tracks 19 commodities, was up 1.14 percent, reaching its highest since November 6.
Total futures market volume fell by 248 to 38,971 lots. Data showed total open interest fell 1,032 to 223,718 contracts in the previous session.
Certificated cotton stocks deliverable as of November 16 totalled 47,951 480-lb bales, down from 47,970 in the previous session.
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