ICE cotton futures were little changed on Friday ahead of a three-day long US holiday weekend, as traders kept a close watch on the progress in US-China trade talks. The most active cotton contract on ICE Futures US, the March contract, settled up 0.09 cent, or 0.13 percent, at 70.22 cents per lb. The front-month contract fell 3.2 percent for the week, its biggest percentage decline since Dec. 21.
"People are waiting on the trade talks between the United States and China, and no one wants to put on new positions ahead of three day holiday," said Keith Brown, principal at cotton brokers Keith Brown and Co in Moultrie, Georgia. ICE Futures US soft agricultural commodity futures and options markets will be closed on Monday for Presidents Day.
Talks between the United States and China will resume in Washington next week, with both sides saying progress has been made toward resolving the two countries' contentious trade dispute. President Donald Trump said on Friday that he may extend a March 1 deadline for a deal and keep tariffs on Chinese goods from rising. Total futures market volume fell by 12,018 to 35,333 lots. Data showed total open interest fell 2,724 to 238,751 contracts in the previous session.
Certificated cotton stocks deliverable as of Feb. 14 totalled 129,765 480-lb bales, up from 126,681 in the previous session.
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